Oaks Earns More Weekly Honors
5/6/2014 3:47:00 PM | Baseball
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – For California Baptist University starting pitcher Trevor Oaks, the regular season ended just as it started, with him being honored as the PacWest Pitcher of the Week.
When the announcement was made Tuesday morning, it marked the third time in 2014 Oaks had been named the conference pitcher of the week. The trio of awards stand as a conference high after he earned the distinction the last two weeks of the season. Later that day, Oaks was named the NCBWA NCAA Division II West Region Pitcher of the Week.
Like the Lancers as a whole, Oaks finished the regular season strong. He made his final regular-season start on Thursday and made it count. The sophomore right-hander went the distance to secure his second shutout victory of the year over PacWest rival Azusa Pacific, 3-0.
CBU went on to split the four-game series and second place in the conference standings with the Cougars. The Lancers finished the regular season at 37-13, 20-12 in conference and at No. 17 in the NCAA Division II rankings and No. 1 on the division's West Region list.
The Cougars managed just four hits and one walk, while striking out eight times against Oaks. The Lancers ace compiled 1-2-3 innings in the first, fifth, sixth and seventh innings Thursday, retiring 12 consecutive batters at one point. The performance also stretched Oaks' streak of not allowing a run to 28 innings.
Oaks completed the regular season as the PacWest leader in wins with a 10-0 record, shutouts (two), innings pitched (98.0), strikeouts (102) and earned-run average (1.56). As of now, Oaks' ERA stands as the second-best mark recorded in a single season in CBU history – only Kurt Grutzmacher's 1.49 ERA in 1995 rivals it.
The Lancers now hope to not only qualify for the NCAA playoffs in their first season as a fully-fledged member, but host the West Regional tournament. They will have to wait until the NCAA selection show, which will be broadcast at www.ncaa.com/liveschedule at 7 p.m. Sunday, to see where it sits in the playoff picture.
