After picking up two victories over the past week, including Seattle U’s first complete game shutout since bringing back baseball as a varsity sport in 2010, redshirt junior lefthander Andrew Olson (Enumclaw, Wash.) was named Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week, announced Monday morning by the conference office.
Olson’s successful week started Tuesday at the University of Washington, as he entered the game in the fifth inning with two runs already in, two runners on base, and just one out. Olson was able to induce a popout and a groundout to end the Husky threat, keeping the Redhawks in the lead before they broke away for a 10-4 victory.
Sunday, Olson was the starting pitcher in the rubber game of the conference series against UT Arlington, and he led the Redhawks to a series win with a 5-0 victory. He threw 124 pitches, 80 of them for strikes, as he tied his season high with eight strikeouts while allowing only four hits and one walk.
“After the first couple of innings, we felt that we were going to see a special performance from AO,” Seattle U head baseball coach Donny Harrel said. “He had all of his pitches working Sunday, and the separation between his fastball and his changeup kept a good hitting team off-balance throughout the game. He got into a couple of situations with runners in scoring position and worked his way out of those jams with no damage.”
For the season, Olson is now 3-4 with a 4.70 earned run average. He is second on the team with 25 strikeouts. His complete game was the first one by a Seattle U pitcher since Seafth Howe went eight innings at Ohio State May 11, 2012, plus it was the first time Seattle U shut out an opponent since Howe and Garrett Anderson combined for a 1-0 victory over Saint Joseph’s March 7, 2012.
Seattle University (15-23, 5-9 WAC) will host Oregon State at Bannerwood Park Monday, April 22, at 3 p.m. The Beavers recovered from being swept in a doubleheader by Washington Saturday to defeat the Huskies Sunday, 8-0. Live stats and live video/audio are scheduled to be available on GoSeattleU.com.