Arizona ace Preston Guilmet was recognized as a first-team All-American by Baseball America, the magazine announced Friday.
The right-hander has already been named the 2007 Pacific 10 Conference Pitcher of the Year, a first-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball and was one of 10 national semifinalists for the Roger Clemens Award, given to the country’s top pitcher.
“”He was very good from the first pitch until the last pitch,”” said UA head coach Andy Lopez. “”If you go through his year, I can only recall maybe three or four bad innings. He was really special all year, and he deserves that (award), along with all the other accolades he’s been receiving.””
The sophomore went 12-2 this season with a 1.87 ERA in 135 innings. He recorded 146 strikeouts, tied for the fourth-most in a single season in school history and also the most for any Wildcat pitcher since Dan Schneider’s school-record 186 punchouts in 1962.
Guilmet went six or more innings in all 17 starts, tossed five complete games and went nine innings in six starts.
As Arizona’s Friday night starter, Guilmet led a group of Wildcat arms who finished with the second-most strikeouts in school history, the lowest team ERA in 30 years and the fewest hits, runs and earned runs allowed since 1978.
Being a sophomore on such a young team – there were only two seniors last season – and his coming off of a 3-7 freshman year only makes Guilmet’s credentials that much more impressive, Lopez said.
“”He was OK last year, but he didn’t do anything that would make you think he was going to have a type of year he did this year,”” Lopez said. “”That says a lot for him in terms of his preparation in between seasons.””
Guilmet, who threw in the mid-80s in his freshman campaign, threw in the upper-80s with consistency this past season, touching 90 mph at times. He turned down an invitation to join the USA team to go home to Cirtus Heights, Calif., for the summer to rest his arm.
“”Preston has matured physically and mentally,”” Lopez said, “”and he’ll grow up even more next season.””
