After an excellent sophomore season, Mississippi State shortstop David Mershon is a finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award, presented annually to the best shortstop in college baseball.
The award, presented by the College Baseball Foundation, is named for former Texas Tech shortstop Brooks Wallace, who played for the Red Raiders from 1977-1980 and died of leukemia at the age of 27. This year’s other finalists are Austin Peay’s Jon Jon Gazdar, Ball State’s Michael Hallquist, Rutgers’ Josh Kuroda-Grauer and Virginia’s Griff O’Ferrall.
“Our list of finalists this year comes with some stellar defensive stats with very few errors from all five players,” said Brooks Wallace Award co-chair Larry Wallace. “When it comes to the plate, there are some impressive numbers there as well. It’s always tough to determine who best represents all the qualities we look for in Brooks’ award, and I look forward to that process in the coming weeks.”
Mershon missed the first four games of the season with an injury but hit safely in his first 12 games after returning, batting .438 in that stretch. He finished the season with a .347 average and a .454 on-base percentage with 12 doubles, six home runs and 41 runs batted in. His 60 runs scored led the team, and he walked 41 times to just 38 strikeouts. Mershon also stole 27 bases, tied for second in the Southeastern Conference, and was caught just three times.
All that led to Mershon being named to the All-SEC First Team, and he also made the All-Regional Team after going 8-for-16 with a homer in four games at the Charlottesville Regional last weekend.
Mershon turned 21 on May 24, making him eligible for next month’s MLB Draft. The switch-hitter was also excellent defensively this year, making just four errors and turning in a number of sparkling plays.
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