Five Rebels Earn SEC Baseball Year-End Awards
On Monday, the Southeastern Conference announced its year-end awards, and five members of the No. 4 Ole Miss Rebels baseball team have earned honors.
Ryan Olenek (Photo credit: Petre Thomas, Ole Miss Athletics)
Junior Ryan Olenek led the way with a First-Team All-SEC selection, while junior Nick Fortes and sophomore Parker Caracci were named Second-Team All-SEC. Anthony Servideo was selected to the Freshman All-SEC Team, and sophomore Cole Zabowski was named to the SEC All-Defensive Team.
Olenek led the league this season in overall batting average (.373) and in conference play (.404). The Winter Park, Florida, native notched a 23-game hitting streak earlier this season that lasted almost all of SEC play.
Fortes, who hit .299 with 11 home runs during the regular season, is a semifinalist for this year’s Johnny Bench Award, honoring the nation’s best Division I collegiate catcher. From Deland, Florida, the Rebels’ catcher has thrown out eight batters in SEC play who were attempting to steal. Additionally, in league action, Fortes drove in 24 runs and tallied six homers.
Caracci led the SEC in ERA at 1.47 in league games–with just five earned runs allowed in SEC play. His 9 saves in conference play are also a league-high. The Jackson, Mississippi native struck out 42 in 30.1 innings in SEC play and also fanned 61 in 40.1 innings pitched across the full season. For his efforts, Caracci was named a midseason All-American.
Servideo played in 15 SEC games, garnering a .308 average with three runs scored. The Jupiter, Florida product only committed two errors in the field all season–notching time at both second base and shortstop. He hit his fist career home run against Arkansas Pine-Bluff, and was an important part of the May 12 game with Auburn where he went 2-for-3 and produced an RBI and a run scored.
Zabowski finished with a monster season both at the plate and in the field. The first baseman from Lawrenceville, Georgia is credited with 189 putouts and 21 assists in league play–and 282 putouts on the season as a whole. The Ole Miss defense is currently sitting at a .978 fielding percentage for the year, which would break the school record. At the plate, Zabowski hit .333 in SEC play–the team’s second-best–and tied for the team lead with six home runs in conference play.
SEC Baseball Awards
Player of the Year: Jonathan India, Florida
Pitcher of the Year: Brady Singer, Florida
Freshman of the Year: Heston Kjerstad, Arkansas
Coach of the Year: Kevin O’Sullivan, Florida
Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Keegan McGovern, Georgia
Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Nico Mascia, Tennessee
First-Team All-SEC
C: JJ Schwarz, Florida
1B: Kole Cottam, Kentucky
2B: Carson Shaddy, Arkansas
3B: Jonathan India, Florida
SS: Braden Shewmake, Texas A&M
OF: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State
OF: Ryan Olenek, Ole Miss
OF: Keegan McGovern, Georgia
DH/UT: Luke Heyer, Kentucky
SP: Brady Singer, Florida
SP: Casey Mize, Auburn
RP: Michael Byrne, Florida
Second-Team All-SEC Team
C: Nick Fortes, Ole Miss
1B: Adam Sasser, Georgia
2B: Michael Helman, Texas A&M
3B: Casey Martin, Arkansas
SS: Will Holland, Auburn
OF: Eric Cole, Arkansas
OF: Wil Dalton, Florida
OF: Heston Kjerstad, Arkansas
DH/UT: Michael Curry, Georgia
SP: Blaine Knight, Arkansas
SP: Jackson Kowar, Florida
RP: Parker Caracci, Ole Miss
Freshman All-SEC Team
C: Mason Meadows, Georgia
1B: Tanner Allen, Mississippi State
2B: Anthony Servideo, Ole Miss
3B: Casey Martin, Arkansas
OF: Heston Kjerstad, Arkansas
OF: Daniel Cabrera, LSU
OF: Steven Williams, Auburn
DH/UT: Edouard Julien, Auburn
SP: Ma’Khail Hilliard, LSU
SP: Tanner Burns, Auburn
RP: Cody Greenhill, Auburn
SEC All-Defensive Team
C: Grant Koch, Arkansas
1B: Cole Zabowski, Ole Miss
2B: Luke Jarvis, Auburn
3B: Jonathan India, Florida
SS: Connor Kaiser, Vanderbilt
OF: Zach Watson, LSU
OF: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State
OF: Dominic Fletcher, Arkansas
P: Will Neely, Tennessee
Next Up for the Rebels:
The SEC West Champion Rebels are in Hoover, Alabama, for the SEC Championship. As the No. 2 seed, Ole Miss earned a first-round bye and on Wednesday will play the winner of Tuesday’s Auburn and Kentucky game.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn's love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
