UCI’s Gorgen continues to collect pitching honors

UC Irvine junior pitcher Scott Gorgen’s one-hitter against San Francisco Friday was picked as the West Region Performance of the Week Award from InsidePitching.com. He was also named CollegeBaseballInsider.com’s National Player of the Week

Gorgen recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts against USF, surrendering the lone single in the third inning after fanning five of the first six Dons he faced.

Gorgen, a third-team All-American as a sophomore, then retired the next 19 straight and faced just two over the minimum to record his seventh career complete-game and fourth complete-game shutout.

Batters are hitting just .043 against Gorgen, who is 2-0 on the season and was also named Collegiate Baseball “Louisville Slugger” National Player and Big West Conference Pitcher of the Week.

Each week, InsidePitching.com awards the performances and accomplishments of five pitchers around the country. After being nominated as one of the three best pitching performances for the week, a panel of 30 NCAA Division I coaches around the nation are pooled for voting.

In addition, Gorgen has been named one of 78 college pitchers on the Roger Clemens Award watch list.

The finalists will be selected in voting by a national panel that includes: all Division I head baseball coaches; a selection of national media who cover collegiate baseball; and the 16 winners of the R. E. “Bob” Smith Award, which was presented to the top player in the country in Houston in 1988-2003. In addition, the 13 previous finalists for the Clemens Award are also issued ballots. The 2008 award will be presented this summer.

Gorgen, who was on the watch list last season, earned All-America honors in 2007 after going 13-3 for the Anteaters. In his sophomore campaign Gorgen finished tied for third in the nation in wins and had 117 strikeouts and a 2.83 ERA.

The right-hander pitched four straight complete games prior to UCI’s first Division I appearance at the College World Series. His efforts led to an invitation to pitch for Team USA last summer and he defeated Russia, striking out eight in a pre-determined start of 4 2/3 innings.

Gorgen is also currently on the Brooks Wallace Award watch list and was tabbed a pre-season All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Assn. and Collegiate Baseball.

— From staff reports