Josh Lovelady has been named a 2017 Tom Walter/Pete Frates Award honoree.
Josh Lovelady Named 2017 Tom Walter/Pete Frates Award Honoree
August 03, 2017 | Baseball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Having overcome a pair of injuries that many would view as career-ending, Mississippi State catcher Josh Lovelady was named as a 2017 honoree of CollegeBaseballInsider.com's sixth Tom Walter/Pete Frates College Baseball Inspiration Award.
The award, started by CollegeBaseballInsider.com (CBI) in 2011, is named for Tom Walter, the head coach at Wake Forest who donated a kidney to freshman outfielder Kevin Jordan before the 2011 season, and Frates, whose courageous battle with ALS has captured the nation's attention with the Ice Bucket Challenge – the effort has raised more than $250 million for ALS research and is credited with helping discover a new gene associated with ALS – and college baseball's attention with "Band Together to Strike Out ALS."
"We are honored to highlight a wonderful lineup of individuals who have shown a tremendous amount of courage and determination to influence their teams, campuses and communities," said Sean Ryan, co-founder of CollegeBaseballInsider.com, which has covered Division I college baseball since 2002. "They have inspired many with their journeys on and off the diamond, and we congratulate them for the impact they have made on college baseball."
In junior college, Josh Lovelady was hit by a pitch in the face. After missing a couple weeks, he played the rest of the season with his jaw wired shut despite having to eat through a straw. In 2015, he served as a backup catcher at Mississippi State and was poised for a big year as the starter in 2016. But after just four games in 2016, the catcher tore his ACL while running down the first-base line to back up a play on the first pitch of the game.
He returned for his senior year in 2017 to help lead the Bulldogs back to the NCAA Tournament and started every game of the Regionals – including four games in two days – and hit a three-run homer (his first of the year) in a four-RBI game against Southern Miss to force a deciding game that MSU won to earn a trip to LSU for the Super Regionals. Lovelady, profiled by The Clarion-Ledger's Will Sammon, hit .215 and drove in 21 in 51 starts, made just one error and allowed only six passed balls behind the plate all season, becoming one of the Bulldogs most valuable players. Following the conclusion of his Diamond Dawg career, Lovelady signed a free agent contract with the Kansas City Royals.
For more information on the Diamond Dawg program, follow the program on Twitter, like them on Facebook and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateBB." You can also find all-access coverage of the program on SnapChat by searching for "HailStateSnap."
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The award, started by CollegeBaseballInsider.com (CBI) in 2011, is named for Tom Walter, the head coach at Wake Forest who donated a kidney to freshman outfielder Kevin Jordan before the 2011 season, and Frates, whose courageous battle with ALS has captured the nation's attention with the Ice Bucket Challenge – the effort has raised more than $250 million for ALS research and is credited with helping discover a new gene associated with ALS – and college baseball's attention with "Band Together to Strike Out ALS."
"We are honored to highlight a wonderful lineup of individuals who have shown a tremendous amount of courage and determination to influence their teams, campuses and communities," said Sean Ryan, co-founder of CollegeBaseballInsider.com, which has covered Division I college baseball since 2002. "They have inspired many with their journeys on and off the diamond, and we congratulate them for the impact they have made on college baseball."
In junior college, Josh Lovelady was hit by a pitch in the face. After missing a couple weeks, he played the rest of the season with his jaw wired shut despite having to eat through a straw. In 2015, he served as a backup catcher at Mississippi State and was poised for a big year as the starter in 2016. But after just four games in 2016, the catcher tore his ACL while running down the first-base line to back up a play on the first pitch of the game.
He returned for his senior year in 2017 to help lead the Bulldogs back to the NCAA Tournament and started every game of the Regionals – including four games in two days – and hit a three-run homer (his first of the year) in a four-RBI game against Southern Miss to force a deciding game that MSU won to earn a trip to LSU for the Super Regionals. Lovelady, profiled by The Clarion-Ledger's Will Sammon, hit .215 and drove in 21 in 51 starts, made just one error and allowed only six passed balls behind the plate all season, becoming one of the Bulldogs most valuable players. Following the conclusion of his Diamond Dawg career, Lovelady signed a free agent contract with the Kansas City Royals.
For more information on the Diamond Dawg program, follow the program on Twitter, like them on Facebook and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateBB." You can also find all-access coverage of the program on SnapChat by searching for "HailStateSnap."
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Players Mentioned
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