The University of Mississippi baseball team will head to College Station, Texas, for its NCAA tournament regional armed with several Southeastern Conference awards.
On Tuesday, Alex Yarbrough, Matt Snyder, and Bobby Wahl were recognized by league coaches on the All-SEC teams. Yarbrough was named a first-team selection at second base, while Snyder and Wahl were second-team selections at first base and pitcher, respectively. Yarbrough also was named to the All-Defensive Team, while Snyder also was named to the Community Service Team.
Yarbrough anchored the middle of the infield, making only two errors in 59 games for a .992 fielding percentage. The junior committed his first error in the second game of the season and then turned in a stretch of 456 consecutive innings without an error.
Yarbrough has led the Rebels with a .389 batting average and is second in the SEC in batting average and hits (91). He is in the top 10 of six offensive categories, including on-base percentage, slugging percentage, doubles, and total bases.
Snyder has been one of the top power hitters in the SEC this season. He has 12 home runs and a league-leading 57 RBIs while hitting at a .333 clip. The senior hit 10 of his 12 home runs in league play, leading the category for conference games only by a large margin for most of the season.
Like Yarbrough, the first baseman also ranks in the top 10 in the SEC in six offensive categories, including slugging percentage, doubles, home runs, and total bases in addition to being the league RBI leader. He also committed only one error in the field this season to field at a .998 clip.
Snyder also was named to the SEC Community Service team for his efforts in the local community that include participation in activities like Reading With The Rebels, the Rebel Rerun program, visits to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, and the program’s annual Bats and Balls clinic for area youth to learn baseball.
Wahl was 6-3 and second in the league with a 2.26 ERA. He was fourth in the league with 90 strikeouts. The sophomore right-hander turned in nine quality starts on the season as the Friday night starter in the weekend rotation.
Yarbrough, Snyder, and Wahl will lead Ole Miss (35-24) against Texas Christian University (36-19) at 12:35 p.m. Friday in game one of the NCAA tournament College Station Regional at Blue Bell Park.
The winner of that game will face the winner of the Dayton-Texas A&M game Saturday.
Wahl is expected to start Friday against freshman right-hander Preston Morrison (9-1, 1.73 ERA). Morrison has thrown a team-high 98 2/3 innings, and has struck out 64 and walked only eight.
Ole Miss and TCU split a rain-shortened series to open the season. Ole Miss claimed the first game 7-4 behind Wahl and a 2-for-5 performance by Yarbrough that included a two-run home run as part of a three-RBI day. The Rebels dropped game two 5-3 after a rally by the Horned Frogs in the fifth inning. Mike Mayers struck out eight in four innings, allowing two runs on one hit in the outing as his only relief outing of the season.
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