The Southeastern Conference honored four Mississippi State baseball players Monday afternoon when its annual awards were announced.
Redshirt junior Ethan Small was named the SEC Pitcher of the Year while fellow starter JT Ginn was named Freshman of the Year.
Small boasts an 8-1 record with a 1.84 ERA in 83 innings pitched this season and leads the conference in strikeouts with 139 — the second best mark in the country.
Ginn earns his award after tying the MSU freshman record for wins with an 8-3 ledger in 75 innings of work. Both his 3.12 ERA and .217 batting average against ranked top-15 in the conference.
Small, senior Jake Mangum and sophomores Justin Foscue and Tanner Allen were also selected for the All-SEC first team while Ginn earned a slot on the All-SEC freshman team.
Mangum lead the conference in hits and ranked second in batting average and stolen bases this season. He passed LSU’s Eddy Furniss for the all-time SEC hits record April 27 against No. 7 Georgia.
Allen and Foscue have comprised the middle of the MSU batting order this year. Allen posted career highs in batting average, runs scored, doubles, home runs, RBIs and walks this year. Foscue finished the regular season ranked in the SEC’s top-10 in batting average, slugging percentage, runs scored, hits, RBIs, doubles, home runs and total bases.
MSU enters this week’s SEC tournament as the No. 4 overall seed after sharing the SEC West Division title with Arkansas. The Bulldogs will play the winner of today’s matchup between LSU and South Carolina on Wednesday in Hoover, Alabama.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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