THE FLATS – Two Yellow Jackets found themselves on national midseason award watch lists, the College Baseball Foundation announced today. Senior Mason Patel was named to the Pitcher of the Year watch list while junior Kyle Lodise was placed on the Brooks Wallace Award watch list, awarded to the nation’s top shortstop.
Mason Patel enjoyed one of the best first halves of a season by any Yellow Jacket in program history, becoming the first GT pitcher to win each of his first seven appearances despite not starting a single game. He pitched the first 22.2 innings of the season before allowing his first run, the longest scoreless streak to begin a year by any Tech pitcher this century. The Knoxville, Tenn native has played a role in the final decision of all 12 of his appearances, posting an 8-1 record with a team-high three saves.
He leads all of Division I with eight wins, he leads the ACC (5th in DI) in WHIP (0.78) and is 12th in the nation in ERA (1.87). Patel has posted the longest outing of any Tech pitcher this season, pitching the final 6.2 innings of GT’s 9-5 victory at Notre Dame (March 22) and became the first Tech pitcher to record multiple saves in a single series, this year, when he slammed the door on both Friday (April 11) and Sunday (April 13) in Tech’s sweep over California.
Patel is one of seven ACC pitchers on the 54-player watch list.