HOUSTON — Senior Greg Dombrowski and junior Scott Green have been named to the watch list for the fifth annual Roger Clemens National Pitcher of the Year Award, it was announced.
The Kentucky duo was tabbed among the top 78 pitchers in college baseball and among the top nine pitchers in the Southeastern Conference. Only 10 teams in the country had multiple pitchers listed on the watch list and only three SEC schools ? UK, Auburn and Ole Miss.
Green, recently ranked as the 21st best prospect in college baseball entering the 2008 season, and has proven to be a dominant pitcher in a starting role. Green has earned two Saturday starts this season, earning two wins, working 12 innings and striking out a team-leading 19 hitters. After missing 2006 due to Tommy John surgery, Green returned for a limited role in 2007, before breaking out in the Cape Cod League over the summer, working in nine games with eight starts, earning a 1.56 ERA. In 40.1 innings of work this summer, Green struck out 35, earning the Baseball America distinction as the sixth-best prospect in the talent-rich Cape. A 6-foot-8, 245-pound right-hander, Green, who ranks third in the SEC in strikeouts this year, was also tabbed by Baseball America as one of three starting pitchers on the first-team All-SEC preseason team.
Dombrowski, a 2007 preseason All-American selection and 2007 member of the Roger Clemens Award Watch List, has returned to the form that led him to a 10-win, 2.88 ERA performance during UK?s 2006 SEC Championship run. The UK all-time leader in career winning percentage (20-4 career record), Dombrowski has started two Sunday games for the Wildcats this season, working in 10 innings, allowing eight hits, and one earned run, sporting a 0.90 ERA. Before the season, Baseball America tabbed Dombrowski as the pitcher in the SEC with the best control for the second consecutive season.
The duo makes up part of what is becoming one of the top weekend rotations in college baseball, as junior southpaw Chris Rusin has emerged as a top-SEC caliber Friday-night starter. In two starts this season, Rusin has worked in a team-high 14 innings, striking out 13 and allowing just one earned run.
On the season, the UK staff has put up unbelievable pitching numbers, leading the SEC in 7-of-15 pitching categories. UK leads the league in ERA (1.82), opponent batting average (.197), wins (9), fewest runs allowed (21), fewest earned runs (16), and fewest walks allowed (11). With 90 strikeouts in just 79 innings, UK ranks second in the SEC in strikeouts.
Kentucky returns to action for a crucial non-conference mid-week tilt with the Evansville Purple Aces, on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
