STARKVILLE — Jake Mangum and the Mississippi State baseball team earned additional recognition Tuesday from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).
Mangum, a senior center fielder, was named a preseason first-team All-American, while MSU came in at No. 13 in the preseason rankings.
It is the fourth preseason top-15 ranking for MSU. It also is the fourth preseason honor for Mangum. The Pearl native also has earned recognition from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper (first team), D1Baseball (second team), and Perfect Game (third team). Teammate JT Ginn was named a second-team All-American by Baseball America.
Mangum owns a hit in 146 of 176 games started and has reached base in 159 of 176 games started. The active career leader in hits among NCAA baseball student-athletes, Mangum enters the season with 275 hits. With 154 runs scored, Mangum is No. 4 among returning student-athletes for the 2019 season. His .356 batting average is No. 4 among returners in Division I with at least 400 at bats in their career.
Six other Southeastern Conference teams found their way into the top 15. Auburn (No. 19) gives the SEC eight teams in the top 20. The Bulldogs will see a preseason ranked opponent on seven of 10 weekends in SEC play.
Vanderbilt and LSU claimed the top two spots in the poll. Florida checked in at No. 6, Ole Miss and Georgia grabbed the No. 11 and 12 spots, respectively, and Arkansas was ranked No. 15.
On the second weekend of the season, MSU will play host to No. 26 Southern Mississippi in a three-game series at Dudy Noble Field. It also will face No. 3 Texas Tech on March 2 at the Frisco Classic and No. 14 East Carolina in a mid-week home game.
MSU enters the season No. 9 in the Baseball America poll, No. 14 according to D1Baseball, No. 15 in the USA Today Sports rankings, No. 17 in the Perfect Game poll, and No. 27 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
MSU will play host to Youngstown State at 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, in its season opener at Dudy Noble Field.
Southern Mississippi’s Wallner named second-team preseason All-American
Southern Mississippi junior outfielder/pitcher Matt Wallner was named to the second team NCBWA preseason All-America team.
Wallner, the 2017 National Freshman of the Year by most national media organizations, finished last spring with a .351 batting average with 13 doubles. He also led the team with 16 home runs and 67 RBIs. He walked 48 times to have an on-base percentage of .474. He had a slugging percentage of .618.
Wallner also had six saves in 12 appearances.
Wallner earned All-America honors by multiple organizations following the 2018 spring campaign, including a second-team accolade by the NCBWA (National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association) in the outfield and he was a third-team selection at designated hitter by D1Baseball.com as well as a third-team pick by the ABCA (American Baseball Coaches Association).
Southern Miss will play host to Purdue at 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, in its season opener at Pete Taylor Park.
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