March 4, 2008

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell baseball senior Mathew Wilson (Toronto, Ontario/Northern S.S.) was named to the preliminary Roger Clemens Award watch list, it was announced on Tuesday. Wilson was one of 78 initial candidates for the honor, which recognizes the top pitcher in college baseball.

This marks the second time this season that Wilson has been selected as candidate for a national award, previously earning a spot on the 2008 Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Award Watch List back in December. Wilson is one of three Patriot League pitchers on the Roger Clemens Award watch list as he is joined by 2007 Patriot League Player of the Year Cole White of Army and All-American Mitch Harris of Navy.

With two starts under his belt so far in 2008, Wilson holds a 1-0 record and has a 2.57 earned run average with 20 strikeouts and just three walks through 14 innings of work. He currently leads the Patriot League with an average of 12.86 strikeouts per game after posting a career-high 10 strikeouts in back-to-back outings at Eastern Kentucky and Virginia Commonwealth.

Wilson is coming off a stellar junior season that saw him finish second in the Patriot League with a 1.78 ERA over 60.2 innings of work. His career ERA of 3.15 ranks fifth in both the Bucknell and PL record books. He is second in program history with three career shutouts and sixth on the Bison career list for fewest walks per nine innings (2.85).

In 2007, Wilson went 4-4 with two shutouts, blanking Cornell, 1-0, and Navy, 11-0, and recorded 42 strikeouts over nine starts, registering five complete games. As a sophomore in 2006, Wilson tossed the 19th two-hitter in Bucknell history, a 1-0 shutout against Army.

The finalists for the 2008 Roger Clemens Award will be selected in voting by a national panel that includes: all Division 1 head baseball coaches, a selection of national media who cover collegiate baseball, the 16 winners of the R. E. "Bob" Smith Award, which was presented to the top player in the country in Houston in 1988-2003. In addition, the 13 previous finalists for the Clemens Award are also issued ballots. The 2008 award will be presented this summer.

The Bison will be back in action this Sunday, Mar. 9, when the squad will begin its Spring Break trip to Bradenton, Fla., with a game against IPFW at 10:30 a.m.