April 4, 2018
AUBURN, Ala. -- Just passed the midway point of the 2018 season, junior right-hander Casey Mize has been named the Midseason Pitcher of the Year by both D1 Baseball and Perfect Game/Rawlings this week.
Seven starts into his junior campaign, Mize is 6-0 with a 2.11 ERA and has helped Auburn to a 23-7 overall record and No. 13 national ranking.
A year after leading the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio, the Springville, Ala., native again tops the list after striking out a SEC-best 70 batters while issuing only three walks. Mize's 70 strikeouts are 12 more than any other pitcher in the Southeastern Conference and good for the sixth most in the country. He also leads the nation in WHIP (0.60) and ranks second in wins.
Mize took the mound on Friday, Mar. 9 vs. Northeastern and put it all together as he turned in the ninth no-hitter in program history while striking out a career-high 13 batters. His 13 strikeouts were the most by an Auburn pitcher since 2012, and the no-hitter was the Tigers' first since 2002.
Mize went out a week later and matched his career-high with 13 strikeouts in the SEC opener vs. Texas A&M before going on the road and striking out 12 at Kentucky. His 38 strikeouts during the three starts were the most in a three-game stretch in the Stat Crew era (1993).
Dating back to the no-hit performance, Mize is 3-0 with a 1.47 ERA over his last four starts. He has struck out 45 batters without issuing a walk in 30.2 innings pitched during the span and is holding batters to a .138 batting average.
With a 6-0 record heading into the fourth weekend of Southeastern Conference play, Mize is the first Auburn pitcher to start a season 6-0 since John Madden also did so in 2005.
Mize and the Tigers (23-7, 4-5 SEC) get back to conference play with a road trip to No. 5 Arkansas (21-9, 5-4 SEC) this weekend. The three-game series in Fayetteville is scheduled to begin Friday at 6:30 p.m.