Leake named finalist for Golden Spikes Award
Arizona State University junior right-handed pitcher Mike Leake has been named one of five finalists for the Golden Spikes Award, given to the nation's premier amateur baseball player. Leake is the 9th ASU player to be a Golden Spikes Award finalist. This is the second straight year a Sun Devil has been a finalist, as Brett Wallace made the list in 2008.
Leake (Fallbrook, Calif.) won the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year for the second consecutive season this year, becoming the first pitcher in conference history to win the award in back-to-back years. Leake is 15-1 with a 1.23 ERA and 143 strikeouts on the season. He has also thrown seven complete games, including the first two complete game shutouts of his career. Leake has 39 career wins at ASU, ranking him fourth on the school's all-time list.
Three Arizona State players have won the Golden Spikes Award, including the first winner, Bob Horner, in 1978. Oddibe McDowell won the award in 1984 and Mike Kelly won in 1991. Other Sun Devil finalists for the Golden Spikes Award were Kelly (1990), Paul Lo Duca (1993), Jacob Cruz (1994) and Dustin Pedroia (2004).
The other finalists for this year's award are North Carolina first baseman Dustin Ackley, Alabama outfielder Kent Matthes, Kansas State pitcher A.J. Morris and San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg.