Mason Edwards Named Finalist for National Pitcher of the Year Award

LOS ANGELES -- After putting up some of the most dominant pitching numbers in the country so far this season, USC's Mason Edwards was named one of five finalists for the National Pitcher of the Year award presented by the College Baseball Foundation.

Edwards has been dominant for the Trojans since opening weekend this year and his excellence has not gone unrecognized as he was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes award as well.

The junior lefty owns a 1.85 ERA through 16 starts and 92.2 innings pitched. His ERA and 4.86 hits per nine innings rank second nationally, while his 164 strikeouts and 15.93 K's per nine are tops in the country. Edwards' 1.00 WHIP is 12th in the country as well. The junior left-hander also put together a scoreless streak of 29.2 consecutive innings to start the year.

With Super Regional play still in front of him, Edwards has already etched his name into the USC record book, with his 164 strikeouts, the fourth most ever in a season by a Trojan pitcher and the most since Mark Prior set the USC record with 202 K's in 2001. Edwards also had a 16 strikeout performance against Iowa earlier this year, matching Barry Zito for the third most in a game by a USC pitcher. He is the first Trojan pitcher since Ian Kennedy in 2005 to win a conference Pitcher of the Year award as well.

Edwards is scheduled to start the opening game of the Super Regional against North Carolina on Friday. USC takes on the Tar Heels at 12 p.m. PT/3 p.m. ET on ESPN2 in the opener of the best-of-three series with a trip to the College World Series on the line.

Mason Edwards Named Finalist for National Pitcher of the Year Award

Players Mentioned

Mason Edwards

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