Well our RPI may not be top-45, but our closer is! Zech has been named to the 45-man midseason watch list for the Stopper of the Year Award. Well done, young fella.

Looking at the statistics for Zech's fellow CUSA nominees (Van Eaton of Memphis and Gibaut of Tulane), what's striking--pun intended--is the number of innings Lemond has thrown versus the other guys. Zech has tossed 41.0 innings to Gibaud's 29.1 and Van Eaton's 21.1. In fact, looking at the list of 45, Zech has thrown more innings than all but 6 (with one kid from Longwood having thrown 55.1); the other 5 are all in the 42-43 inning range.

The current leader is the closer for Austin Peay with 14 saves, followed by Oregon's stopper with 13. Then the rest in a big cluster at 12, 11, 10, 9, and 8. Zech is leading, however, in the "reverse alphabetical by first name" category, just edging out Zach Mawson of Rider.