Gray, Oberste on Golden Spikes Award Watch

May 2, 2013

NORMAN, Okla. -- Sooners Jonathan Gray and Matt Oberste were listed among 60 college baseball players on USA Baseball's Golden Spike Award midseason list, released by the organization Thursday.

The award is annually given to the top amateur baseball player in the country.

Gray (8-1, 1.10 ERA) ranks third nationally with 98 strikeouts and is poised to become the sixth Sooner to record back-to-back 100-strikeout seasons. Gray is among the top 10 nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (4.6) and earned run average.

Oberste leads the Big 12 Conference in hits, home runs (10), runs scored (42), runs batted in (48), total bases (130), on-base percentage (.502) and slugging percentage (.751). Oberste's batting average (.434) ranks third nationally and the slugger is also in the NCAA's top 10 in hits (73), slugging percentage and total bases.

The 30 semifinalists will be announced May 28. The Golden Spikes Award trophy will be awarded live on MLB Network for the third year in a row, with a live presentation scheduled during The Rundown on Friday, July 19.

Past recipients of the Golden Spikes Award include Terry Francona (1980), Will Clark (1985), Robin Ventura (1988), Jason Varitek (1994), J.D. Drew (1997), Mark Prior (2001), Jered Weaver (2004), Tim Lincecum (2006) and David Price (2007).