Two Cats Receive SEC Honors; UK Faces Alabama in SEC Tourney
HOOVER, Ala. -- The Southeastern Conference on Monday announced its 2023 baseball awards and All-SEC teams, recognizing standout performances from this season. The awards were voted on by the league’s head coaches.
LSU’s Dylan Crews was named SEC Player of the Year, LSU’s Paul Skenes is the SEC Pitcher of the Year, Georgia’s Charlie Condon is the SEC Freshman of the Year, Alabama’s Andrew Pinckney and Georgia’s Ben Anderson are the SEC Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and Arkansas’ Dave Van Horn was voted the SEC Coach of the Year.
Kentucky infielders Hunter Gilliam and Émilien Pitre each were honored by the league’s coaches for their performance. Pitre earned Second Team All-SEC and SEC All-Defensive Team, while Gilliam joined his teammate on the All-Defensive Team.
Crews leads the SEC and is ranked seventh nationally with a .423 batting average. He has 14 home runs, 13 doubles and 57 RBI so far this season. Crews is also the league-leader in on base percentage (.573) and runs scored (79), and he has a reached base streak of 59 games, which includes all 55 games of this season. He is the first to garner SEC Player of the Year honors in consecutive seasons.
Skenes leads the SEC in wins (10), strikeouts (164) and earned run average (1.77). He is ranked No. 2 on LSU’s all-time single-season strikeouts list. Skenes has allowed two or fewer runs in 11 of his 14 starts this season. He was named the SEC Pitcher of the Week three times this season.
Condon is among the SEC leaders in batting (.393), hits (81) and RBI (67), and his 25 home runs this season is an SEC freshman record, breaking the previous mark of 22. Earlier this season, Condon had a 37-game on base streak and a 24-game hitting streak. He also leads the SEC in home runs in conference games this season (16).
Pinckney recently earned his degree in management information systems with a 3.52 grade point average. He is a five-time Dean’s List honoree and has been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll twice. Pinckney is hitting .347 in his junior campaign with 15 home runs, 10 doubles and 49 RBI.
Anderson holds a degree in biochemistry and is pursuing a master’s degree in biomedical sciences. He plans to attend medical school after his playing career. Anderson is the first Georgia baseball player to earn an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, and he is the third to earn SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors in consecutive seasons. Anderson has 59 hits this season, including 20 extra base hits.
Van Horn led the Razorbacks to their fourth SEC regular season title and second in the last three seasons. Arkansas also won its seventh SEC Western Division crown under Van Horn and fourth since 2018.
The 2023 SEC Baseball Tournament will be played Tuesday through Sunday at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
2023 SEC Baseball Awards
Player of the Year: Dylan Crews, LSU
Pitcher of the Year: Paul Skenes, LSU
Freshman of the Year: Charlie Condon, Georgia
Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Ben Anderson, Georgia
Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Andrew Pinckney, Alabama
Coach of the Year: Dave Van Horn, Arkansas
First Team All-SEC
C: Cole Messina, South Carolina
1B: Jac Caglianone, Florida
2B: Cade Kurland, Florida
3B: Tommy White, LSU
SS: Josh Rivera, Florida
OF: Dylan Crews, LSU
OF: Wyatt Langford, Florida
OF: Ethan Petry, South Carolina
SP: Paul Skenes, LSU
SP: Hagen Smith, Arkansas
RP: Brandon Neely, Florida
DH/UT: Hunter Hines, Mississippi State
Second Team All-SEC
C: Calvin Harris, Ole Miss
1B: Charlie Condon, Georgia
2B: Emilien Pitre, Kentucky
3B: Luke Mann, Missouri*
3B: Bryson Ware, Auburn*
SS: Jacob Gonzalez, Ole Miss
OF: Kemp Alderman, Ole Miss
OF: Enrique Bradfield Jr., Vanderbilt
OF: Andrew Pinckney, Alabama*
OF: Jared Dickey, Tennessee*
SP: Devin Futrell, Vanderbilt
SP: Brandon Sproat, Florida
RP: Nick Maldonado, Vanderbilt
DH/UT: Kendall Diggs, Arkansas
Freshman All-SEC Team
Charlie Condon, Georgia
Ethan Petry, South Carolina
Ike Irish, Auburn
Cade Kurland, Florida
Colby Shelton, Alabama
Jared Jones, LSU
Jace LaViolette, Texas A&M
Alton Davis II, Alabama
Dakota Jordan, Mississippi State
Gage Wood, Arkansas
RJ Austin, Vanderbilt
Luke Heyman, Florida
SEC All-Defensive Team
C: Fernando Gonzalez, Georgia
1B: Drew Williamson, Alabama*
1B: Hunter Gilliam, Kentucky*
2B: Emilien Pitre, Kentucky
3B: Davis Diaz, Vanderbilt
SS: Jim Jarvis, Alabama
OF: Enrique Bradfield, Jr., Vanderbilt
OF: Dylan Crews, LSU
OF: Tavian Josenberger, Arkansas*
OF: Kason Howell, Auburn*
P: Hagen Smith, Arkansas
SEC Baseball Tournament
