Baseball Earns Six All-SEC Selections
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Five Mississippi State baseball players earned six total All-Southeastern Conference honors by a vote of the league’s 14 head baseball coaches, the SEC announced Tuesday. In addition, junior shortstop Seth Heck was named SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, giving MSU back-to-back winners of the award (Sam Frost). The six total All-SEC selections tied Florida with the most in the conference.
Junior Jacob Lindgren was named first-team All-SEC as a relief pitcher. The southpaw led the league in SEC-games only in ERA (0.55), opponent batting average (.114), fewest hits allowed (13), fewest runs allowed (4) and fewest earned runs allowed (2). In addition, Lindgren ranks third in the conference with 93 strikeouts, the most by any reliever in the country. The Bay St. Louis, Miss., native currently leads the nation with 16.4 strikeouts per nine innings.
Redshirt junior left-hander Ross Mitchell and senior second baseman Brett Pirtle made the second team. Mitchell and SEC Pitcher of the Year Aaron Nola of LSU were the only three-time SEC Pitcher of the Week award winners this season, with Mitchell finishing league play 6-3 with a 1.93 ERA in 10 starts. Pirtle, who was also voted to the All-Defensive Team, led MSU with a .354 average in SEC play and reached base safely in all 30 conference games.
In addition to Pirtle, Heck was also named to the All-Defensive Team after leading all SEC shortstops with a .986 fielding percentage. The Tacoma, Wash., native made just two errors in 139 chances in conference play, while also hitting .302 with 16 RBIs and 14 runs. In the classroom, the business management major earned a perfect 4.00 GPA en route to being voted SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Catcher Gavin Collins was named to the All-Freshman Team after hitting .324 in 25 conference games with a team-high .456 slugging percentage. The first-year player also threw out a SEC freshman-high 11 base runners from behind the plate.
The Bulldogs begin their quest for their 10th trip to the NCAA College World Series Friday with a 1 p.m. first pitch against San Diego State in the NCAA Lafayette Regional. Eight of the previous nine MSU clubs to make it to Omaha have had at least three players named All-SEC. For more information on the MSU baseball program, follow the team on Twitter, like the squad on Facebook and join the Diamond Dawgs on Instagram.
All-SEC Selections (All-SEC, All-Defensive, All-Freshman)
6 - Mississippi State, Florida
5 - Kentucky, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt
4 - Arkansas, LSU, South Carolina
3 - Alabama
2 - Tennessee, Texas A&M
1 - Auburn
0 - Georgia, Missouri