Hudson And Mangum Named Baseball America All-Americans
June 07, 2016 | Baseball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Awards keep rolling in for the Diamond Dawgs, as this time junior RHP Dakota Hudson and freshman OF Jake Mangum were both named All-Americans by Baseball America on Tuesday.
Hudson reeled in Second Team honors, while Mangum was named to the Third Team. For Hudson, this is his second All-American honor this season after being named First Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball last week. This is the first All-American honor for Mangum, the SEC Freshman of the Year.
Hudson, who last week was named a semifinalist for the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award, is 9-4 on the year with a 2.62 ERA. He has tossed three complete games in 106.2 innings, allowing only 99 hits and 34 walks. The junior has 109 strikeouts on the year, which puts him tied for ninth with former Diamond Dawg All-American Eric DuBose, who struck out 109 batters in 1995.
The Dunlap, Tenn., native's nine wins this season are the most by a Bulldog pitcher since Ross Mitchell had 13 during the 2013 campaign.
For Mangum, his first All-American honor adds to an already stellar freshman season for the Pearl, Miss., native. In addition to being MSU's first SEC Freshman of the Year, Mangum also became the first Bulldog rookie since Rafael Palmeiro in 1983 to be named to the All-SEC First Team.
With a .418 clip, Mangum leads the SEC, stands fourth nationally and leads all freshmen in the nation in batting average. Mangum also stands top 10 in the SEC in on-base percentage (.470, 3rd) and hits (82, 8th).
Mangum also holds the title of best collegiate baseball player in the state of Mississippi, as he brought home the 2016 C Spire Ferriss Trophy last month.
Hudson, Mangum and the No. 6 national seed Bulldogs finished off a sweep of the 2016 NCAA Starkville Regional with a 4-0 victory against LA Tech Sunday night at Dudy Noble to advance to the Super Regionals for the sixth time in program history. MSU will host Arizona this weekend after the Wildcats captured the Lafayette Regional Championship.
The weekend is set for a Friday-Saturday-Sunday showdown, with all three contests set for 5 p.m. CT first pitches. Friday's contest is set for an ESPN2 broadcast, with Saturday's on ESPNU. Sunday will be broadcasted on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.
