Arizona Baseball: Three Wildcats earn midseason awards honors

It's been a fairly successful season for the Wildcats so far after losing so many key parts from the 2012 National Championship team. And now, the national media is recognizing that success.

Johnny Field was named to the 60-man Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list this week. The Golden Spikes Award is given to the top amateur baseball player in the country every year. Field was also on the preseason watch list, making him one of 32 players in the country to make it on both lists. Konner Wade was also on that preseason list.

Field has been raking lately, reaching base in each of his last 30 games, including going 32-of-75 in the 18 games since being moved to the lead off spot. His on-base percentage in those 18 games is .494! He talked about his success in the lead off spot after last Friday's game against Alabama State.

For the season, he's now batting .382, which leads the PAC-12, a year after winning the conference batting title. He's a junior this year so it's likely that this will be his last year in Tucson, and it will be extremely sad to see him go when that day comes.

Kevin Newman also made an award watch list. He was named as a quarter-finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award list, which is awarded to the top shortstop in the nation. Newman is just one of two freshman on the list.

Newman had a huge hole to fill when he replaced Alex Mejia in the Arizona infield, and a lot of people including head coach Andy Lopez just wanted to see good defense and didn't expect anything from the plate. But Newman is batting .357 on the year, good for fourth on the team! He's also committed only four errors this year; a win-win situation for the Wildcats.

And lastly, Mathew Troupe was named to the 51-man watch list for the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award. Troupe has nine saves on the year, just four shy of the program's single-season record set by Jason Stoffel in 2008.