Video: Cohen, Mangum Among Award Recipients For Mississippi State

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (MSU Athletics) – In what has been an already historic week for the Mississippi State baseball program, head coach John Cohen was named SEC Coach of the Year and Jake Mangum was named SEC Freshman of the Year on Monday.

The 2016 SEC Regular Season Champions also had six All-SEC Team honors, with Mangum leading the way with First-Team All-SEC and Freshman All-SEC mentions.

Five Diamond Dawgs in total earned honors, tying for the most in program history and the most since 1989. MSU has landed five All-SEC honorees six times in program history (1949, 1971, 1977, 1988, 1989 and 2016).

Cohen became the fourth Bulldog skipper to earn SEC Coach of the Year honors and the first since Ron Polk landed the award in 1989. This is Cohen’s second SEC Coach of the Year laurel as he also awarded the prestigious honor in 2006 with Kentucky. With today’s announcement, Cohen joins Polk as only the second coach in conference history to earn the award with two different programs.

Mangum became the first Bulldog in program history to claim the SEC Freshman of the Year title after a dominating season at the plate and in the field. The Pearl, Miss., native currently leads the SEC with a .427 batting average, which stands third nationally and first in the NCAA amongst freshmen.

The Bulldog outfielder also tops the team with a .479 on-base percentage, which is good for second in the SEC and 30th nationally. Mangum became the first MSU freshman to be named to the All-SEC First Team since Rafael Palmeiro in 1983 and the first rookie to be named to either First Team or Second Team All-SEC since Jay Powell in 1991.

Mangum’s award-filled Monday also saw the freshman be named the 2016 recipient of the C Spire Ferriss Trophy, which is presented annually to the top collegiate baseball player in the state of Mississippi. Mangum became the first freshman to earn the honor with the announcement Monday afternoon.

Also landing All-SEC First Team honors for the Maroon and White were RHP Dakota Hudson, 1B Nathaniel Lowe and DH/UT Jack Kruger. Brent Rooker landed All-SEC Second Team laurels.

Hudson has been electric from the mound this season, throwing 101 strikeouts and only allowing 32 runs (25 earned) in 98.1 innings of work. The junior from Dunlap, Tenn., is 9-3 this season and has drawn a W in his last five starts. Hudson has been on fire as of late, throwing back-to-back complete game shutouts and surrendering only one earned run in the last 26.1 innings of work.

Hudson’s 101 strikeouts are the most by a Bulldog in a single season since Chris Stratton tallied 127 on 2012. The junior also holds the school record for consecutive innings without surrendering an earned run (34.2 innings).

Highlighting Hudson’s stellar junior year has been his trio of SEC Pitcher of the Week honors, the third which was announced this morning. Hudson is the third Bulldog to win the prestigious weekly honor three times in a season, joining Ross Mitchell (2014) and Alan Johnson (2003).

Holding down first base this season for the Dogs has been Nathaniel Lowe, who has started all 55 games. Lowe’s .359 average is good for second on the team, while he leads the Bulldogs with 78 hits (fourth in SEC), 47 RBIs (11th in SEC) and 19 doubles (second in SEC).

Lowe became the second player this season to have a five-hit game after going 5 for 5 in the series opener against Missouri on May 5. The Marietta, Ga., native went 9 for 13 with 4 RBIs, 3 runs, 2 doubles and a homer that weekend to land his first-career SEC Player of the Week honor.

His 24 multi-hit games is tops on the team this season, with seven of those being three-plus-hit games.

Catcher and designated hitter Jack Kruger was the fourth Bulldog to land First-Team All-SEC honors on Monday. Kruger’s .358 average is third best for the Bulldogs and sixth-best in the SEC, while his .570 slugging percentage (seventh in SEC) and 42 runs scored are tops on the team. He also stands top 10 in the SEC with 17 doubles (fourth) and a .451 on-base percentage (eighth).

The Calabasas, Calif., native started off the year hot, earning Collegiate Baseball’s Louisville Slugger® National Player of the Week honors after leading the SEC with eight runs scores and five doubles in the opening weekend of play.

Rounding out State’s list of SEC honorees is redshirt sophomore Brent Rooker, who landed on the Second-Team All-SEC on Monday. The Germantown, Tenn., native, who was named SEC Player of the Week on March 14, is currently batting .324 with a .542 slugging percentage. Rooker currently stands tied for second on the team with 7 home runs and 44 RBIs.

Rooker is also second on the squad with 12 multi-RBI and 21 multi-hit games this year. His best weekend this year came in the Bulldogs’ road series finale, as he belted out a .462 clip with 5 RBIs, 2 home runs and 2 doubles (1.077 slugging percentage).

The Bulldogs and their star-studded cast of All-SEC honorees will now turn their attention to the 2016 SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala. State begins its week on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. CT, playing either Kentucky or Alabama, who will face off on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. All games will be broadcasted nationally on the SEC Network, with the exception of Sunday’s championship game, which will be featured on ESPN2.

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