Three Diamond Dawgs Named NCBWA All-Americans

DALLAS – A trio of Mississippi State student-athletes were named to the 2024 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's (NCBWA) All-America Teams, the publication announced on Wednesday (June 12).

Dakota Jordan and Jurrangelo Cijntje were named NCBWA Second Team All-Americans, while Khal Stephen was a third team selection. Cijntje becomes the first pitcher since Landon Sims in 2021 to earn multiple All-America honors in a season. This is Jordan and Stephen's first All-America honors. Jordan was picked as a Freshman All-American last season.

Awards and honors followed Jordan all throughout the 2024 season as he won the Ferriss Trophy for being the best collegiate player in the state of Mississippi, was a Second-Team All-SEC outfielder, 2024 Golden Spikes Award semifinalist and 2024 Charlottesville All-Regional Team member.

Over the 2024 season at MSU, Jordan excelled for the Diamond Dawgs as he led the team in home runs (20) and RBIs (72). Jordan has the seventh-best batting average in the SEC hitting .354. His 20 home runs are the eighth most in a single season at Mississippi State. He led the team with 26 multi-hit games and 21 multi-RBI games. He was the only Dawg to pick up a five-hit game this season. Jordan also led the team with a .671 slugging percentage and 85 hits.

In two seasons, Jordan appeared in 107 games for State and had a career batting average of .336. He blasted 30 homers and drove in 112 runs along with scoring 86 runs. He had 132 hits for his career and 55 extra base hits. Jordan's on-base percentage stands at .435 over his two seasons.

In 2024, Cijntje was dominating on the mound for the Diamond Dawgs. He was tied for the team lead in wins with eight and led the team in strikeouts with 113. His 113 punchouts were the fifth most in the SEC, while his eight wins ranked eighth. He had four games this season that he tallied double-digit strikeouts. He had a career-high 11 strikeouts at Vanderbilt. He averaged 11.22 strikeouts per nine innings, the ninth best mark in the SEC.

In the NCAA Tournament, he pitched a career-high seven innings against Virginia. In 90.2 innings, opponents hit .211 off Cijntje and he posted an ERA of 3.67, the ninth best ERA in the SEC. He had eight starts this season that went six innings or longer.

In his two seasons wearing the Maroon and White, Cijntje collected 11 wins and made 30 appearances on the mound. He pitched 140.2 innings and tallied 176 punchouts. Opponents were limited to hitting .221 off Cijntje.

In the Maroon and White, Stephen led the MSU pitching staff in wins (eight), innings pitched (96.0) and ERA (3.28). His 3.28 ERA is the fifth best ERA in the SEC this season. He tied a career high with an eight-inning outing against St. John's in the Charlottesville Regional. He finished second on the team with 107 strikeouts and was named First Team All-SEC and a Charlottesville All-Regional Team member.

Stephen found himself ranked in the top 10 in multiple SEC pitching categories this season as he pitched the most innings, had the fifth best ERA, had the sixth most strikeouts and the eighth most wins by an SEC pitcher this season.

In his first outing as a Diamond Dawg, Stephen was outstanding against Air Force. He punched out a career-high 11 in and for that performance, his outing was selected as the Golden Spikes Award Week 1 Performance of the Week.

Visit www.HailState.com for the latest news and information on the baseball program. Fans can also follow the program on social media by searching 'HailStateBB' on X, Facebook and Instagram.

Mississippi State University Athletics

Three Diamond Dawgs Named NCBWA All-Americans

Players Mentioned

Jurrangelo Cijntje

Dakota Jordan

Khal Stephen

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