Stanford’s Quinn Mathews has been named the 2023 Pac-12 Baseball Pitcher of the Year, Electing to return to Stanford for his senior season after being drafted in the 19th round of the 2022 MLB draft, Matthews was rewarded with the league’s top pitching award. The Preseason All-American was key to the Cardinal’s second straight Pac-12 title run, going 7-3 this season with a 3.20 ERA in 98.1 innings pitched. The lefty has 121 strikeouts, which is the best in the Pac-12 and ranks third in the country. Mathews enters the postseason third in the league in ERA, opponent batting average (.225) and leads all Pac-12 pitchers in innings pitched. He has lasted 5-plus innings in every start this season and has gone at least 7.0 in his last nine straight starts. In Pac-12 play alone, Mathews pitched into the seventh in nine of 11 outings, which included a complete-game effort against Washington on April 21st. During one stretch this season, the Aliso Viejo, Calif. native struck out 10 batters or more in six consecutive outings from March 31 – May 5 and walked just eight. He also earned a Collegiate Baseball Pitcher of the Week honor on April 10 after striking out 13 in a win over California on April 6, matching his career high. Mathews is the third straight Stanford hurler to earn the honor, joining Alex Williams (2022) and Brendan Beck (2021).