Baseball's Kerry Named to Freshman All-SEC Team

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Freshman righthanded pitcher Brett Kerry has been named to the Freshman All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) team, as announced by the league office this afternoon (Monday, May 20). Kerry becomes the 22^nd Gamecock to earn this honor as he is one of 12 rookies honor by the conference.
 
Kerry enters SEC Tournament play with a 4-1 record and a 2.62 ERA with seven saves in 22 appearances and two starts. He has held opponents to a .200 batting average and has 65 strikeouts in 58.1 innings pitched. In the SEC, Kerry is 2-1 with a 2.95 ERA with four saves and 39 strikeouts in 42.2 innings. The freshman helped the Gamecocks get into the SEC Tournament after striking out four and allowing just five hits and two runs in 6.1 innings in a win over No. 5 Mississippi State.
 
Kerry is a two-time SEC Freshman of the Week (March 4, May 13). He had seven strikeouts in 3.1 innings pitched in a win over Clemson on March 1 and had saves in back-to-back wins against Kentucky on May 10 and 11. He has pitched in three innings or more in 10 appearances, including a career-high 6.1 on Saturday.
 
JT Ginn of Mississippi State was named the conference’s Freshman of the Year. In other specialty awards, Vanderbilt’s JJ Bleday was named the SEC Player of the Year and Mississippi State’s Ethan Small earned Pitcher of the Year. Vanderbilt’s Tim Corbin was named Coach of the Year and Tennessee’s Garrett Stallings earned Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
 
Kerry and the Gamecocks open SEC Tournament play Tuesday night (May 21) against LSU. First pitch is set for 30 minutes after the Tennessee-Auburn game, which starts at 4:30 p.m. CDT (5:30 p.m. EDT).
 
2019 SEC Baseball Awards
 
Player of the Year: JJ Bleday, Vanderbilt
Pitcher of the Year: Ethan Small, Mississippi State
Freshman of the Year: JT Ginn, Mississippi State
Coach of the Year: Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Garrett Stallings, Tennessee
 
First-Team All-SEC
C: Philip Clarke, Vanderbilt
1B: Tanner Allen, Mississippi State
2B: Justin Foscue, Mississippi State
3B: Austin Martin, Vanderbilt
SS: Grae Kessinger, Ole Miss
OF: JJ Bleday, Vanderbilt
OF: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State
OF: Alerick Soularie, Tennessee
DH/UT: Nelson Maldonado, Florida
SP: Ethan Small, Mississippi State
SP: Emerson Hancock, Georgia
RP: Tyler Brown, Vanderbilt
 
Second-Team All-SEC Team
C: Cooper Johnson, Ole Miss
1B: Trevor Ezell, Arkansas 
2B: LJ Talley, Georgia
3B: Aaron Schunk, Georgia
SS: Casey Martin, Arkansas
OF: Dominic Fletcher, Arkansas
OF: Heston Kjerstad, Arkansas
OF: Antoine Duplantis, LSU
DH/UT: Matt Goodheart, Arkansas
SP: TJ Sikkema, Missouri
SP: Zack Thompson, Kentucky
RP: Matt Cronin, Arkansas
 
Freshman All-SEC Team
JT Ginn, SP, Mississippi State      
Kumar Rocker, SP, Vanderbilt     
Doug Nikhazy, SP, Ole Miss         
Cole Henry, SP, LSU        
Cole Wilcox, SP, Georgia 
Patrick Wicklander, SP, Arkansas               
Connor Noland, SP, Arkansas      
Ryan Bliss, 2B, Auburn   
Christian Franklin, OF, Arkansas                 
Joseph Menefee, RP, Texas A&M            
Kendrick Calilao, 1B, Florida         
Brett Kerry, RP, South Carolina 
 
SEC All-Defensive Team
C: Cooper Johnson, Ole Miss
1B: Trevor Ezell, Arkansas*
1B: Julian Infante, Vanderbilt*
2B: LJ Talley, Georgia
3B: Austin Martin, Vanderbilt
SS: Cam Shepherd, Georgia
OF: Dominic Fletcher, Arkansas
OF: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State
OF: Zach Watson, LSU
P: Garrett Stallings, Tennessee
 
*Tie (Ties are not broken)

South Carolina’s Freshman All-SEC Selections
2019 – Brett Kerry
2017 – Carlos Cortes
2016 – Chris Cullen, Adam Hill, LT Tolbert, Braden Webb
2013 – Jack Wynkoop
2012 – Tanner English, Grayson Greiner, Joey Pankake
2011 – Forrest Koumas
2010 – Evan Marzilli, Matt Price, Christian Walker
2009 – Nolan Belcher, Jackie Bradley Jr.
2008 – Whit Merrifield
2006 – Mike Cisco, Andrew Crisp, Justin Smoak
2004 – David Cash, Arik Hempy