7 Arizona players earn all-conference recognition, Tony Pluta wins Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year

No Wildcats made the First Team

A bigger conference means it’s harder to get players onto the all-conference team. Even if your team finished near the top of the standings.

Seven Arizona Wildcats were named to the Big 12 All-Conference Team on Tuesday, but none garnered a spot on the First Team. Right-handed reliever Tony Pluta and shortstop Mason White, both juniors, earned Second Team nods, with Pluta recognized as Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Catcher Adonys Guzman, righty starter Owen Kramkowski and outfielders Brendan Summerhill and Aaron Walton were honorable mention choices, while righty Smith Bailey made the All-Freshman Team.

Pluta, an aerospace engineering major, led the Big 12 with 11 saves, which is tied for second-most in school history, while posting a 1.65 ERA with only one run allowed in 14.2 innings during Big 12 play.

White is hitting .315 with 13 home runs and 59 RBI, his 35 RBI in league play tied for third. He set the school record for extra base hits in conference play with 23 and is tied with UA coach Chip Hale for the third-most extra base hits in school history (101) while also sitting third in career homers (42).

Guzman, who on Monday was named a semifinalist for the Buster Posey Award given to college baseball’s top catcher, is hitting .309 and threw out 12 base stealers in Big 12 play, tops in the league.

Kramkowski, who will start for Arizona in the Big 12 quarterfinals on Thursday, led the Wildcats in wins (seven), innings (72.2) and strikeouts (67) and had the best strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.18) in the conference.

Summerhill, a projected 1^st round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft who missed time with both hand and leg injuries, is hitting .390 with a .500 on-base percentage in 33 games. He has only 15 strikeouts in 152 plate appearances.

Walton, a transfer from Samford, leads all qualified UA batters with a .317 average while hitting 10 homers. His 19 hit by pitches tied for the Big 12 lead and is tied for 4th-most in school history.

Bailey, who started the final game of every weekend this season, is 2-3 with a 4.52 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 65.2 innings. That’s the most innings thrown by a UA true freshman since 2009.

The Big 12 Player of the Year was Cincinnati’s Kerrington Cross, who led the conference with a .414 average, while Houston lefty Antoine Jean was named Pitcher of the Year after striking out 108 in 63 innings all in relief.

Kansas’ Matt Fitzgerald was awarded Coach of the Year after leading the Jayhawks to a 42-14 record and a share of the regular season title. TCU’s Sawyer Strosnider won Freshman of the Year, while ASU’s Matt King and Oklahoma State’s Harrison Bodendorf were Co-Newcomers of the Year.