Cohen's Club Enjoys Successful Summer On The Diamond
August 15, 2015 | Baseball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – With the first team meeting of a new school year scheduled for Sunday morning, seventeen returning Mississippi State baseball players arrived in Starkville this past week after enjoying successful summer ball campaigns.
Nine of MSU's 17 student-athletes (eight position players, one pitcher) were named All-Stars in their respective leagues. The seven Bulldog pitchers competing this summer combined to record a 2.21 ERA in 252 2/3 innings of work. The 11 hitters totaled a .304 batting average at the plate, tallying 399 hits in 1,312 at-bats.
FINAL 2015 SUMMER BALL STATS
Junior Dakota Hudson was named MSU's Pitcher of the Summer, head coach John Cohen announced Saturday. The right-hander led the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League with 41 strikeouts in the regular season and finished fifth in the league with a 1.69 ERA.
Cohen named redshirt sophomore Brent Rooker MSU's Hitter of the Summer after the outfielder led the New England Collegiate Baseball league in hits (59), runs scored (36), home runs (10) and RBIs (33). The NECBL All-Star also finished third in the league in batting average (.360) and tied for eighth in stolen bases (12). Rooker finished his summer with promotion to the Brewster Whitecaps in the CCBL.
Senior Mike Smith was named MSU's Defensive Player of the Summer with 50 putouts and a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage for the Santa Barbara Foresters, in the California Collegiate League. Smith hit .313 offensively in 35 games.
After having 276 former players on Major League Baseball rosters in 2014, the CCBL featured a school-record eight Diamond Dawgs this past summer. State's five pitchers on the Cape totaled a 2.24 ERA in 204 2/3 innings pitched. Hudson and Vance Tatum (1.93 regular season ERA) led the Hyannis Harbor Hawks to the CCBL Western Division championship and their first appearance in the league championship series since 2000.
Hudson (Aug. 10) and junior righty Austin Sexton (July 27) both earned CCBL Pitcher of the Week honors. Sexton's teammate on the Cotuit Kettleers, left-hander Daniel Brown, tied for sixth in the league with a 1.80 ERA.
Junior right-hander Zac Houston also dominated on the Cape, registering a 1.68 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings pitched. The Poplarville, Mississippi, native held hitters to a microscopic .155 average at the plate.
Offensively in the CCBL, the Bourne Braves duo of Jacob Robson and Reid Humphreys both had stellar campaigns. Robson was named a starter in the CCBL All-Star Game in addition to being named CCBL Player of the Week July 6. The outfielder hit .318 in 30 regular season games, while Humphreys batted .276 in 145 total at-bats. Humphreys, who ranked fifth in the league with five home runs, finished the summer hitting .404 with 14 RBIs in his final 15 games.
Away from the Cape, infielders Luke Reynolds and Cole Gordon were both selected All-Stars in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League on their way to leading the Lima Locos to the league championship. Gordon was named to the All-GLSCL First Team after winning the GLSCL batting title with a .400 average in 75 at-bats. The redshirt freshman finished second in the league with seven home runs, while Reynolds hit .344 in 128 at-bats and tied for sixth in the league with 29 runs and 12 doubles on his way to second-team honors.
Also earning all-star accolades were infielder John Holland of the Foresters in the CCL, outfielder Cody Brown of the Bethesda Big Train in the Cal Ripken League, catcher Josh Lovelady of the Elmira Pioneers in the Perfect Game League, infielder Matt Spruill of the Westhampton Aviators in the Hamptons League and pitcher Logan Elliot of the Alpharetta Braves in the Sunbelt League.
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