Cook, King bash way to honors

By By Jared Florreich / staff writer
June 4, 2003
HATTIESBURG Southern Miss' version of the "Bash Brothers," known as Jeff Cook and Clint King, were named First Team All-Americans by USA TODAY/Sports Weekly.
Cook and King were nicknamed "Smash" and "Bash," respectively, by assistant head baseball coach Scott Berry. Cook and King were also named to Collegiate Baseball's Third Team All-American.
King enjoyed a breakout season this year. He led USM in with a. 394 batting average, 100 hits, 196 total bases, 77 runs and a slugging percentage of .772.
He also recorded 35 multiple hit games, (24 with two hits, 10 with three, and one with four) and 19 multiple RBI games.
King was named C-USA Tournament MVP, finishing the tournament going 6-for-15, with two doubles, two home runs and five RBIs, as USM won the C-USA Tournament for the first time in school history.
Cook led the Eagles with 16 stolen bases, 71 runs scored,and a .450 slugging percentage of .728. He finished second to King in batting average with a mark of .374 and 76 runs.
Cook was named C-USA player of the week four times, the first C-USA player to achieve the feat.
This season, Cook became USM's all-time leader in home runs with 50, hits with 292, runs scored with 200 and total bases with 505. He finished second in career RBIs with 201.
Cook and King finished tied for the lead in home runs with 23, which tied a USM single season record. Cook and King were the most prolific home run hitting duo in C-USA this season.
USM head baseball coach Corky Palmer said both players are special.
The Eagles led C-USA in hitting with a .318 mark, RBIs with 455, runs with 497, hits with 712, walks with 255, sacrifice flies with 34, on-base percentage with .396, slugging percentage with .516, doubles with 142, home runs with 89, total bases with 455, saves with 19 and ERA 3.56.
Southern Miss finished the season with a 47-16 overall mark, a school record. The Eagles went 23-7 in C-USA, which set a new C-USA record in wins.