By Staff
The Question …
Since 1983 10 Southeastern Conference baseball players have been named National Players of the Year. Three played at LSU, while one each played at Alabama, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Auburn, Florida and South Carolina. Seven were pitchers, while four of those starred at other positions as well for their respective teams. Can you name at least five of the players and the schools they played for? If you can name the years you get bonus points. If you can name the awards then you need to work for the SEC office, because you have way more knowledge than you need.
Star Tracking …
Feb. 24, 2001
PHILADELPHIA The streak is no more. The Lady Warriors of Choctaw Central entered Friday's Class 3A South State seminfinal contest with Hazlehurst with 85 wins in their last 85 games played at CCHS. Hazlehurst wasn't impressed as the Lady Indians from Copiah County claimed an 82-75 win. Southeast Lauderdale defeated Forest 59-54 in the second game.
HATTIESBURG The Jackson Jim Hill Tigers opened the overtime session with a 7-0 run to take a 65-61 overtime win in the Clas 5A South State Tournament that put a serious dent in the Meridian High Wildcats' bid for a return trip to the Mississippi Coliseum.
It's amazing how far an 11-run inning will go toward making a team feel better about itself. The Meridian Community College Eagles picked up 11 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning Friday to rally for a come-from-behind 12-5 win over East Central Community College in the first round of the Rush Classic being played at MCC's Scaggs Field this year.
Feb. 24, 1997
Second-ranked Meridian Community College scored an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth inning to snap a 2-2 tie as the Eagles remained undefeated with a 3-2 win against the Bison of Southern Union (Ala.) Sunday afternoon in the final game of the 1997 Rush-MCC Invitational Baseball Tournament. With the win, the Eagles improved to 7-0. More importantly, MCC went 3-0 for the first time ever in the three years of the Rush-MCC Invitational Baseball Tournament.
Feb. 24, 1992
HATTIESBURG Chad Hebert delivered a two-out, two-run triple in the bottom of the sixth inning to lead Southern Mississippi to a 6-3 victory and a sweep of Northeast Louisiana Sunday at Pete Taylor Park.
The coach of the top-ranked Duke Blue Devils kept forewarning of his team's February schedule whenever talk of an undefeated NCAA championship defense would arise. That was before he lost his starting point guard to a broken foot. Krzyzewski has two games left on that part of the schedule he so often referred to and his team now has two losses. The second on Sunday at Wake Forest, 72-68.
Compiled by Ryan Satcher
The Answer …
Here are the winners and their awards: Dave Magadan of Alabama won the Golden Spikes Award in 1983; Will Clark of Ole Miss won the Golden Spikes award in 1985; Derrick Lilliquist was named the Pitcher of the Year by Baseball America in 1987 (he was also a designated hitter); Ben McDonald of LSU won the Golden Spikes Award in 1989; Lloyd Peever of LSU was named the Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year in 1992 for his pitching efforts; Todd Helton of Tennessee won the Mizuno/Collegiate Baseball, Dick Howser Award, Baseball American and Baseball Weekly/USA Today Player of the Year Awards in 1995 (he pitched and played first); Tim Hudson of Auburn won the Smith Award as the top college player in 1997 (He pitched and played outfield); Brad Wilkerson of Florida was named the National Player of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association in 1998 (he pitched, was a designated hitter and played first and outfield); Eddy Furniss of LSU won the Dick Howser Award in 1998; and Kip Bouknight won the Rotary Smith Award and the National Player of the Year Award by Collegiate Baseball and the American Baseball Coaches Association.