TUCSON, Ariz.- Junior right-hander John Meloan has been named one of two national players of the week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. Meloan shared the weekly award with Arizona State left-hander Erik Averill.
Coming off of a 10-0 season in 2004, Meloan began the 2005 year with bang. The Houston, Texas, native kept New Mexico hitless over the first 7 2/3 innings while retiring 23 of the first 26 hitters he faced on opening day.
He fell just four outs shy of tossing the seventh no-hitter in school history after UNM’s Ryan Barba laced a two-out single to right in the bottom of the eighth to break up the no-hit bid. He finished the game with a career-high 12 strikeouts and three walks.
Along with reliever Sean Jarrett, Meloan combined to toss the first one-hitter for Arizona since 1980 in the 9-0 shut out win over of the Lobos last Friday
The award is the first Meloan in his career and marks the first time a UA player has been recognized as such since Sean Rierson garnered the honor on Feb. 18, 2003. Meloan is the eighth Arizona player to be recognized by Collegiate Baseball since 1994.
Buoyed by Meloan’s pitching performance and an outstanding weekend offensively, Arizona moved up one spot, from No. 12 to No. 11, in the Collegiate Baseball national poll.
The Wildcats will take their normal off day on Monday and will resume practice on Tuesday.
Rank School (Record) Points Previous
1. Texas (3-0) 497 1
2. Miami, Fla. (4-0) 496 2
3. CS Fullerton (2-1) 494 3
4. Tulane (0-0) 493 4
5. Louisiana St. (0-0) 486 5
6. Stanford (4-2) 483 6
7. North Carolina (0-0) 480 7
8. South Carolina (0-0) 477 8
9. Georgia (0-0) 475 9
10. Texas A&M (0-0) 472 10
11. Arizona (3-0) 468 12
12. Long Beach St. (5-1) 466 14
13. Georgia Tech. (0-0) 462 13
14. Rice (1-0) 459 15
15. Florida St. (6-0) 457 18
16. Mississippi (0-0) 456 16
17. Washington (0-0) 453 17
18. Arizona St. (3-3) 450 11
19. Mississippi St. (0-0) 447 19
20. Notre Dame (0-0) 445 20
21. Clemson (0-0) 442 21
22. Florida (0-0) 441 22
23. Oklahoma St. (3-0) 437 23
24. Central Florida (2-0) 434 24
25. Baylor (0-0) 430 25
