Chris Stratton Wins C Spire/Ferriss Trophy
Stratton, from Tupelo, Miss., bested two other finalists for the award, Delta State pitcher Colton Mitchell from Lake, Miss., and Ole Miss second baseman Alex Yarbrough of Allen, Texas.
"This is a tremendous honor to be considered for an award named after the state's baseball legend, Coach Ferriss," said Stratton. "I'm thankful for the many people that have played big roles in making this honor possible. I share this award with all of them. My career has been an adventure and a lot of fun, and now I hope we can make some noise in the postseason."
"I'm really proud of Chris," said MSU head coach John Cohen. "This is the culmination of a lot of hard work on his part. I'm so pleased his family could be on hand to be a part of this incredible first-class event put on by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum."
The Bulldog right-hander has enjoyed a career-best junior campaign. He leads the Southeastern Conference with a 9-1 record and ranks third in the league with a 2.22 earned run average. Stratton's 107 strikeouts ties for the fifth-most in the nation and stands as one of only 11 100-strikeout totals in NCAA Division I this season. He has registered five wins and eight quality starts (6 or more innings pitched/3 or fewer earned runs allowed) in his nine starts.
Stratton is one of two SEC baseball players to earn academic all-district honors and is among 88 candidates nationwide for 2012 CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-America team honors.
MSU head coach John Cohen, pitching coach Butch Thompson and other MSU Athletic Department officials were on hand for the presentation.
Stratton becomes the third Mississippi State player to receive the honor in the nine years of the award. Infielder Thomas Berkery was the 2006 recipient while catcher Ed Easley won the award in 2007.
The award is named in honor of former Mississippi State and Boston Red Sox pitching standout and former Delta State coaching great Dave "Boo" Ferriss, who was on hand for this year's presentation.