SEC Champions Reel In Awards, Set Records In Historic 2016 Season
June 15, 2016 | Baseball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – From last to outright SEC champions, pulling in numerous All-American honors, SEC awards and more, the 2016 Mississippi State baseball season was nothing short of historic.
For head coach John Cohen, his eighth year at the helm of the Diamond Dawgs saw even more history made to an already storied ball club. Most notable was the program's first regular-season SEC Championship since 1989 and the MSU athletic department's first outright SEC crown since men's basketball dominated the league in 2004.
Similar to MSU's 2004 "Road Warriors," Cohen's club accomplished a feat only done once at State since the league expanded in 1992. The Bulldogs took all five of their SEC road series in a season for the first time since 1997. What was even more impressive were the opponents the Bulldogs did it against.
Add that to the fact that MSU won or tied all but one of its 14 weekends this year, including series victories against No. 10 Oregon and No. 11 Ole Miss, and it's easy to see how the Bulldogs captured the outright crown of the Southeastern Conference.
Speaking of State's dominance in the SEC, the Bulldogs reeled off a program-record 21 Southeastern Conference victories and went 9-1 in its 10 SEC series this season, including the already mentioned 5-0 in SEC road series (Only Texas A&M had as good a mark in conference series this year). Add in a midweek victory against Ole Miss and a win against Alabama in the SEC Tournament and that's 23 wins this year against opponents from the nation's toughest conference.
All of these accomplishments carried into postseason play, as the Bulldogs earned their first national seed in program history (No. 6). Making its 35th NCAA appearance, State swept the NCAA Starkville Regional, the first time MSU has ever swept a home regional. MSU would then go on to participate in its sixth NCAA Super Regional and the second one the program has hosted in Starkville, while seeing the second and third largest NCAA Super Regional crowds pour into Dudy Noble Field.
What cannot be overlooked in a historic 2016 season is the jump that Cohen and the Bulldogs made from 2015.
The Bulldogs put another stamp in the SEC record books this season by becoming the first program in conference history to go from last to outright first in the conference in a year's time. The only other program to do so was the 2006 Kentucky squad, led by none other than Cohen.
State also went from having no players drafted in the 2015 MLB Draft to a program-record 11 taken in the 2016 MLB Draft.
On the field, the Bulldogs blew away their 2015 counterparts statistically, improving in numerous categories, from batting average to extra-base hits to home runs and so on. State also shut out nine opponents in 2016 after not doing so last season. The nine stand as the second most in a season in school history.
Mix in the program's first SEC Freshman of the Year, 13th First Round MLB Draft pick, a program-record 11 MLB draft picks, five All-SEC selections, three All-Americans (so far) and John Cohen being named the fourth SEC Coach of the Year in MSU history and it makes 2016 that much sweeter.
Below is a list of all the accomplishments made during the 2016 MSU baseball season.
Awards
- Mississippi State captures its 11th SEC Championship in school history and first since 1989 (first outright SEC title in MSU Athletics since men's basketball in 2004)
- John Cohen named the fourth SEC Coach of the Year in MSU history and the first since 1989. He becomes only the second coach in conference history to win the award at two different schools (Ron Polk – MSU and Georgia)
- Jake Mangum earned the first SEC Freshman of the Year honor in school history
- Mangum becomes the first freshman to receive the C Spire Ferriss Trophy, awarded to the top collegiate baseball player in the state of Mississippi
- Mangum becomes the first freshman to receive All-SEC First Team honors since Rafael Palmeiro in 1983 and the first freshman to earn an All-SEC First or Second Team accolade since Jay Powell in 1991
- Dakota Hudson and Nathaniel Lowe named Louisville Slugger Second Team All-Americans
- Hudson and Mangum Named Baseball America All-Americans
- Mangum named Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American
- Mangum tabbed NCBWA First Team Freshman All-American
- Hudson, Mangum garner NCBWA Second Team All-American accolades
- Hudson, Mangum and Rooker named ABCA South All-Region honors
- Jacob Robson named 2016 Hammer Strength All-American
- Five Diamond Dawgs earn All-SEC honors, tying for the most in school history and the most since 1989
- Hudson named semifinalist for prestigious USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award
- Hudson tabbed NCBWA National Pitcher of the Month
- Lowe named to 2016 SEC Community Service Team
Player/Pitcher Of The Week Honors
Dakota Hudson:
SEC Pitcher of the Week (May 23)
Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week, SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week (April 4)
Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week, SEC Pitcher of the Week (March 21)
*First Bulldog in school history to win Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week twice in a season
* First time in program history to have more than one National Player of the Week in a single season
Nathaniel Lowe:
SEC Player of the Week (May 9)
Jake Mangum:
SEC Freshman of the Week (April 11)
Brent Rooker:
SEC Player of the Week (March 14)
Jack Kruger:
Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week (Feb. 22)
* First time in program history to have more than one National Player of the Week in a single season
NCAA Postseason
- Diamond Dawgs host 13th NCAA Baseball Championship Regional, make 35th NCAA Tournament appearance
- Bulldogs earn program's first national seed (No. 6)
- Mississippi State sweeps home regional for first time in program history
2016 Major League Baseball Draft
- Hudson becomes 13th first round selection in MSU history, taken by St. Louis Cardinals
- Three Bulldogs selected on day two of the 2016 MLB Draft
- Bulldogs set program record with 11 total MLB Draft selections
#HailState In The 2016 Polls
- Ranked No. 1 in three different polls this season
- Unanimous Top-10 team for last six weeks of regular season
- Unanimous Top-5 team for last three weeks of regular season
2016 In The Record Books
Team:
21 SEC wins – Most in school history
9 shutouts – 2nd most in school history
19 saves – 3rd most in school history
.975 fielding percentage – 3rd highest in school history
576 strikeouts – 4th most in school history
44 wins – T-9th most in school history (20th 40-win season in program history)
47 home runs – Most by a Bulldog team since 2010
Individual:
Jake Mangum – Leads the SEC with a .408 batting average and is in line to win SEC batting title
Jacob Robson – T-7th (Matthew Maniscalco, 2000-03) in MSU history with 46 stolen bases
Dakota Hudson – T-8th (Jeff Brantley, 1984) for most strikeouts in a single season (115)
Hudson and Austin Sexton – First MSU pitchers to have over 90 strikeouts in same season since 1999
Dudy Noble Field In 2016
- Eight crowds of 10,000+
- Recorded the second-largest on-campus crowd in NCAA history (April 16 vs. Texas A&M)
- Drew the second and third largest Super Regional crowds in NCAA history
