Preston Guilmet Named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year

TUCSON, Ariz. ?- Arizona right-hander Preston Guilmet has been named the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year, the league office announced on Wednesday. In being so named he becomes the first UA hurler since Scott Erickson in 1989 to be honored as the top arm in the conference.

Guilmet, a sophomore from Citrus Heights, Calif., was a unanimous selection by the conference coaches, garnering eight votes as the league’s top pitcher - Arizona head coach Andy Lopez is not allowed to vote for his own players.

“Preston’s very deserving of this award,” Lopez said. “If there is a young man with a work ethic in practice, pregame, on the mound or even during off days better than his I haven’t seen it. He is a great teammate that puts the club ahead of himself and he has certainly carried us a number of times this year. After getting beat up a little bit as a true freshman last year, he really worked hard during the summer and last fall to improve on the mound, and I’m really happy that the league noticed his efforts.”

In addition to being the unanimous choice for the pitcher of the year, Guilmet was one of just two players to receive all first place votes by the conference coaches for the All-Pac-10 team. Pac-10 Player of the Year/All-Pac-10 first baseman Brett Wallace of Arizona State was the other. Senior Bill Rhinehart is the lone Arizona position player to join Guilmet on the all-conference squad.

Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year ?- Preston Guilmet

With a Pac-10-best 11-1 overall record, Guilmet leads the conference in wins (11), ERA (1.58), opponent batting average (.200) and strikeouts (126). He has gone seven or more innings in 13 of 15 starts this season, has tossed five complete games, thrown two CG shutouts and has combined with the bullpen on another two blankings.

One of 10 national semifinalists for the Roger Clemens Award, he has been recognized as the Collegiate Baseball/Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week a school record three times this year, as well as garnering four Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week nods.

With a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5-to-1, Guilmet has punched out 10 or more hitters in a game five times this season and nine or more in eight contests. In a complete game effort against Stanford in Palo Alto on April 13, he struck out a career-high 15 Cardinal batters

Out of his 120 innings pitched this season, 105 of them have been scoreless frames and he has allowed multiple runs in an inning just five times in 2007. He has not given up a single run in six starts, has allowed seven or less hits in 12 of 15 outings and has walked two or less 12 times. Arizona is 14-1 in games he has started this season.

First Team All-Pac-10

As UA’s other representative on the All-Pac-10 team, Rhinehart enters UA’s three-game series against Arizona State today with a team-leading .359 batting average, 14 doubles, three triples, a career-high 10 home runs and 53 RBI. He is the reigning Pac-10 Player of the Week after hitting for the 12^th cycle in school history last Sunday against Washington.

Rhinehart and Guilmet's first career all-conference selections makes them the 12th and 13th first-team All-Pac-10 selection in six seasons under Andy Lopez.

Honorable mention All-Pac-10

3B Brad Glenn (.344, 42 R, 17 2B, 2 3B, 9 HR, 57 RBI), LHP Brad Mills (9-4, 3.92 ERA, 79 K), CF T.J. Steele (.340, 38 R, 12 2B, 4 3B, 7 HR, 46 RBI), RHP Jason Stoffel (4-0, 3 saves, 2.38 ERA, 36 K) and 1B C.J. Ziegler (.347, 52 R, 22 2B, 2 3B, 10 HR, 56 RBI) were all named honorable mention All-Pac-10 selections.

2007 Pac-10 Awards
Pac-10 Player of the Year	Brett Wallace, Arizona State
Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year	Preston Guilmet, Arizona
Co-Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year	Gabe Cohen, UCLA
	Grant Green, USC
Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year	Eric Sogard, Arizona State
Pac-10 Coach of the Year	Pat Murphy, Arizona State

Arizona’s 2007 First Team All-Pac-10 Selections
SP	Preston Guilmet
OF/DH	Bill Rhinehart

Arizona’s Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 Selections
3B	Brad Glenn
LHP	Brad Mills
CF	T.J. Steele
RHP	Jason Stoffel
1B	C.J. Ziegler

Arizona’s Pac-10 Players/Pitchers of the Year
1980	Terry Francona	Pac-10 South Player of the Year
1987	Chip Hale	Pac-10 South Player of the Year
1989	Scott Erickson	Co-Pac-10 South Player of the Year
	Alan Zinter	Co-Pac-10 South Player of the Year
2005	Trevor Crowe	Co-Pac-10 Player of the Year
2007	Preston Guilmet	Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year

Note

Scott Erickson was named the Pac-10 South Co-Player of the Year with teammate Alan Zinter. The conference coaches started to select seperate players and pitchers of the year when the Pac-10 North and South joined in 1999.

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