IRVING, Texas- Texas A&M sophomore Travis Starling (Yoakum, Texas) was named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Pitcher of the Week by a select media panel, the league office announced Monday.

Starling, who earned the first weekly honor of his career, picked up a win and a save to lead A&M to their first-ever Big 12 sweep of Baylor this past weekend.

Called on to protect a 2-1, ninth-inning lead over the Bears Friday night at Olsen Field, Starling retired Baylor’s 4-5-6 hitters in order to pick up his eighth save of the year.

On Sunday in Waco, Starling threw a career-high four innings and picked up the victory in A&M’s 13-12, 11-inning win over Baylor. Included in that outing was a stretch during the ninth and 10th innings where he retired six of seven, setting the stage for Texas A&M to score the game-winner the next frame.

Starling is 6-0 with eight saves on the season and sports a 2.22 ERA. He is five saves shy of tying the Aggie single season record of 13, set by Scott Beerer in 2003.

It was the second weekly honor for A&M in 2008, as freshman Brooks Raley earned co-pitcher of the week honors on March 10. Starling became the 17th Aggie pitcher to win the award.

Oklahoma State’s Neil Medchill was named Big 12 Player of the Week.

STARKVILLE, Miss.- Texas A&M sophomore Travis Starling was one of 45 relief pitchers named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association “Stopper of the Year Award” watch list, the organization announced Thursday. The award is given to the top relief pitcher in Division I college baseball.

Starling (Yoakum, Texas) ranks second in the Big 12 and 15th nationally in saves with seven. In 23 1/3 innings of work, he sports a 5-0 record and a 1.54 ERA with 17 appearances out of the Aggie bullpen.

Starling sits in sixth place on the A&M single-season save charts, just six shy of the school record (13, Scott Beerer, 2003).

The 2008 midseason watch list features teams representing 19 athletic conferences as well as one independent team. The Atlantic Coast Conference leads the way with six pitchers on the honor squad.

The watch list was compiled from nominations submitted by sports information contacts and conference media relations offices nationwide. At the conclusion of regular season competition, the NCAA Division I saves leader and four other relief pitching standouts will be selected as the finalists for the award and announced May 28 prior to the start of NCAA regional competition. The winner of the 2008 Stopper of the Year Award will be selected by the NCBWA’s All-America Committee and announced Wednesday, June 4, two days before NCAA Super Regional play begins.

• Texas A&M has won 23 consecutive mid-week contests dating back two seasons…the last team to beat the Aggies in a mid-week game was Houston, who took a 9-6 victory at Olsen Field on April 18, 2006.

• Texas A&M has scored 12 or more runs in three consecutive games for the first time since 1999…the Aggies swept Texas-Pan American to open that season, 12-2, 15-1 and 21-5 (Feb. 5 & 6).

• Texas A&M has hit a home run in eight consecutive games…the last time the Aggies accomplished that feat was last season (March 23-April 3).

• With 18 hits on the night, the Aggies matched a season high and have now tallied double-figure hits in nine of their last 10 games and in 22 of 33 overall.

Texas A&M freshman Brooks Raley (Uvalde, Texas) was named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Week by a select media panel, the league office announced Monday.

Raley struck out 10 over 7 2/3 innings of shutout baseball in his first career start on Saturday night to lead the Aggies to a 2-1 win over defending Big East champ Rutgers. He faced four batters over the minimum on the night, and allowed just two baserunners into scoring position—stranding both. The lefty allowed only eight balls to leave the infield on the night—the three hits and five fly ball outs. He shared the honor with Nebraska's Johnny Dorn.

Equally impressive was his five inning stint against #21 Arkansas the previous weekend. He dominated as well against national player of the week Aaron Murphree in that game. Murphree leads the nation in home runs and has 11 homeruns and 22 RBI in his last seven games that do not include the game against the Aggies. He has struck out only five times this season and three of those were against Raley.