Former WNC pitcher Rayne Raven earns national, Big West honors for NCAA Division I debut
It was a NCAA Division I baseball debut worthy of national and Big West Conference recognition. Former Western Nevada College pitcher Rayne Raven hurled seven shutout innings and fanned 16 hitters in his first outing for Cal State University, Northridge in a 6-0 victory over Utah Valley on Saturday.
Two days after the overpowering performance, the junior right-hander was among Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's National Players of the Week and was the first pitcher of the week for the Big West Conference for the 2015 season.
"When I heard 16 Ks, I thought it was typo," said WNC coach D.J. Whittemore. "We had always known Rayne as a groundball pitcher. But the thing is, Rayne is a very hardworking player and when you combine that with an opportunity to work with one of the top pitching coaches in the world in Greg Moore, the results are almost limitless."
Raven was only three strikeouts shy of the Cal State University, Northridge record of 19 strikeouts in his four-hitter over seven innings. His 16 strikeouts were the most by a Matador hurler since 2003.
"I saw they were swinging over a lot of my sliders and I just kept going with that," Raven told the CSUN sports information department. "I didn't realize I had that many strikeouts at all. It wasn't until I left the game in the seventh that I was told I had that many."
After the opening week of the season, Raven and the Matadors are 4-0, the team's best start since 2002.
Raven posted a 7-4 record and 3.95 earned run average for Western Nevada College last season. He struck out 40 in 54 2/3 innings and was fourth on the team with a .317 batting average. Raven was a member of the last Wildcats' Carson City team to qualify for the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series in 2012.