STARKVILLE — Three Mississippi State University baseball players collected All-America honors Wednesday as they prepared for a trip to the College World Series.
Junior outfielder Hunter Renfroe and sophomore reliever Jonathan Holder were named to the Baseball America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Division I All-America teams, while sophomore left-hander Ross Mitchell was a second-team pick to the NCBWA team.
Renfroe, the No. 13 overall selection by the San Diego Padres, was a first-team selection to Baseball America’s list, while Holder was a second-team pick. Both were first-team picks on the NCBWA team.
Renfroe, from Crystal Springs, already earned first-team All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. Renfroe is hitting .360 batting with 61 RBIs. He shares the Southeastern Conference lead with 15 home runs.
Holder, another three-time All-American this spring, notched his SEC-leading and school-record 18th save Monday against No. 6 national seed University of Virginia to clinch the NCAA Charlottesville Super Regional and MSU’s ninth berth in the College World Series. Holder, from Gulfport, is 2-0 with a 1.31 ERA. He has 83 strikeouts in 48 innings.
Mitchell, from Smyrna, Tenn., is the son of former Major League Baseball pitcher Charlie Mitchell. He is 12-0 with two saves and a SEC-best 1.35 ERA.
No significant injuries for MSU heading to Omaha
MSU coach John Cohen said “five or six” players on his active roster have the normal bruises and injuries that come at this time of the season.
However, MSU (48-18) will go to Omaha, Neb., with everyone available to play in the College World Series. Junior right-hander Ben Bracewell is the only player who was thought to be questionable. He badly sprained his ankle last month against the University of Alabama and has been in a walking boot as a precautionary measure since he suffered the injury. He wasn’t used against the University of Virginia in game one of the NCAA Charlottesville Super Regional, but he warmed up in the bullpen Monday as Holder closed MSU’s 6-5 victory in game two.
“I saw him throw a pen this morning and he was great,” Cohen said. “I think Jacob Lindgren’s ankle is doing a little bit better. Wes (Rea) had a little thumb thing. I think this time of the year, every team at the College World Series has these little tiny nagging things going on. We have some of those.”
Frazier one hit away from tying school’s single-season record
Adam Frazier didn’t realize he was one hit away from tying the school’s single-season record of 103 hits Monday.
“It would be cool to have my name on something that matters like that with a program of so much history,” Frazier said. “Problem is I’m sure I’ll be reminded all I need is two more hits. We’ll need more out of me than that if we’re going to win a national championship.”
Frazier, who is second on the team with a .359 batting average, was drafted in the sixth round last week by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cairo, Ga., native was nine hits away from the record, set by Brian Wiese in 1989, entering the NCAA Charlottesville Super Regional, a total that seemed out of reach at the start of the weekend. However, a 6-for-6 performance Saturday in a 11-6 victory in game one allowed the possibility to become a reality. The six hits tied him with four Bulldogs who had achieved that feat. The last person to do it was Burke Masters in 1990.
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