Lincecum Honored; Dawgs Move Up Polls
May 10, 2004
SEATTLE - Washington freshman Tim Lincecum was named a National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball magazine today while the Husky baseball team rose in all three national polls.
Collegiate Baseball ranked Washington the No. 13 team in the nation, up from 16th in last week's poll, while Baseball America placed the Huskies No. 15, up from 21st. The UW entered the Sports Weekly/ESPN coaches' poll in the No. 21 spot after being unranked last week.
The Huskies (28-15-1 overall, 12-6 in the Pac-10) took two of three from then-No. 1 Stanford last weekend at Husky Ballpark, handing the Cardinal (37-8, 11-4) their first series defeat in more than a year. Stanford, still a half-game ahead of second-place UW in the conference standings, dropped to No. 2 in all three rankings. Washington is two-and-a- half games ahead of third-place UCLA (26-23, 8-7) and three-and-a-half in front of four teams tied for fourth place at 7-8.
Lincecum, a right-hander from Renton's Liberty High School, earned both wins over the Cardinal. He threw two innings (the ninth and 10th) of scoreless relief in Friday's 3-2, 10- inning win and then struck out 13 over eight innings in Sunday's 9-2 victory, improving his record to 7-1 on the year.
With 15 total strikeouts over the weekend, Lincecum now has 127 on the season, only four short of the Washington record of 131, set in 1999 by Jeff Heaverlo. Lincecum has, most likely, three more starts during the regular season. Postseason statistics count as well.
Earlier this season, Collegiate Baseball named Lincecum a National Player of the Week after he struck out 15 over six innings in a win over Loyola Marymount. This week, he shared the honor with three other players: Long Beach State pitcher Jered Weaver, Old Dominion pitcher Justin Verlander and Fresno State oufielder Richie Robnett.
Washington plays host to Portland Tuesday and Wednesday evening (both at 6:30 p.m.) in a pair of non-conference contests before traveling to face USC (21-25, 7-8) this weekend in a three-game, Pac-10 series at Dedeaux Field. The following weekend, the Huskies take on UCLA at Husky Ballpark to close out the 24-game conference schedule. Stanford has three conference series remaining -- vs. Arizona, USC and Arizona State.
