Baseball's Veach Named to Stopper of the Year Watch List

DALLAS, Texas – Redshirt junior pitcher Chris Veach has been named to the initial watch list for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award, given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball, it was announced Wednesday afternoon (Feb. 14).

Veach was 2-1 with a 3.46 earned-run-average and six saves last season for the Gamecocks. Veach struck out 32 batters in 26 innings pitched and held opponents to a .174 batting average. The Chapin, S.C., native struck out five in three innings of relief against LSU (April 7) and had back-to-back saves in a three-game sweep of Florida (April 21-22). He picked up a save in the Columbia Regional winner’s bracket game against NC State (June 3) and had four strikeouts in 2.2 innings pitched in the Gainesville Super Regional game against Florida (June 10).=

The Southeastern Conference led the way with the most representatives with 12 players finding their names on the watch list. The Atlantic Coast Conference followed with 10, while the Big 12 and Big Ten each had six and the Pac-12 had five.

Of the initial 73 members, 12 were featured on last year’s midseason watch list. In total, 21 conferences are represented on this list, with at least two players coming from 16 different leagues.

The Gamecocks open the 2024 season on Friday, Feb. 16 against Miami (Ohio). First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at Founders Park.