May 5, 2008

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Senior Kyle Bowley (Apopka, Fla./Apopka) has been added to the Roger Clemens Award Watch List, the National Collegiate Writers Baseball Association has announced on the award's Web site. The Clemens Award is given to the top collegiate pitcher in the nation and Bowley is one of five players in the Atlantic Sun Conference on the Watch List.

Bowley is one of 114 pitchers on the Watch List and is one of just five from the Atlantic Sun Conference along with FGCU's Richard Bleier, Lipscomb's Brandon McClurg, Belmont's Chris Manning and Stetson's Robbie Elsemiller. Coastal Carolina's Bobby Gagg and Joey Haug and Clemson's D.J. Mitchell and Matt Vaughn are the only other players from South Carolina.

Bowley is in the midst of a magical season on the mound for Upstate. Entering the year with a 4.67 ERA and a 12-9 record on the mound in Division II, Bowley is 5-2 with a 2.89 ERA so far in his first year of Division I play, standing among the top 100 pitchers in the classification in ERA. Along the way, he has already surpassed his career high with 60 strikeouts (41 during both sophomore and junior years). His five wins also tie a career-high.

The right-hander has made his mark on the Atlantic Sun Conference this season, appearing among the conference leaders in four categories. He is fifth in ERA (2.89), tied for sixth in wins (5), tied for second in complete games (2) and sixth in strikeouts (60).

He has had a litany of great performances this season, winning several historic games for Upstate. He threw seven innings, allowing seven hits and one run in Upstate's Division I debut, an 8-3 win over New Jersey Tech on Feb. 22, striking out eight and followed that by throwing eight innings in a complete-game five-hitter in Upstate's Atlantic Sun debut, an 11-1 win over ETSU on March 1. He also struck out a career-high 11 in a nine-inning, 140-pitch complete-game in Upstate's first-ever win against North Florida on March 21. Although he has been hampered by a hamstring injury that has shortened two of his last three starts, Bowley has allowed just three earned runs in that time. In one of the gutsiest performances of the year, he pitched with the hamstring pull in an eight-inning win against A-Sun favorite Lipscomb (4/19), allowing seven hits and three earned runs. He struck out five and helped Spartans stay in the game to take the 5-4 win.

Bowley is currently ranked fourth in school history in career wins (17), first in walks allowed per nine innings (1.99), third in strikeouts (171), fourth in games started (37), fourth in innings pitched (235.2) and eighth in earned run average (4.20).

Also an infielder on the team, he is currently hitting .342 (25-for-73) in 22 games with three homers and 11 RBIs.

Upstate's 10-day break for the end-of-semester finals ends on Wednesday, May 7 when Presbyterian visits Harley Park for a 6 p.m. showdown.