May 17, 2018
LUBBOCK, Texas - Sophomore shortstop Will Holland and junior right-hander Casey Mize were named semifinalists for a pair of national awards, the College Baseball Foundation announced this week. Holland was named a semifinalist for the Brooks Wallace Award, while Mize was named a semifinalist for the National Pitcher of the Year Award.
Holland is one of 16 shortstops across the country to be named a Brooks Wallace Award semifinalist. The award honors the nation's top shortstop and will be presented this summer by the College Baseball Foundation. It is named for former Texas Tech shortstop Brooks Wallace, who played for the Red Raiders from 1977 to 1980 and died of leukemia at the age of 27.
Holland, who had played in all 53 games for the Tigers and has made 52 starts at shortstop, has raised his batting average nearly 100 points from his freshman season and ranks third on the team with a .301 clip. The Lawrenceville, Ga., native has also far surpassed his offensive output from a year ago in runs (45), hits (58), doubles (11), home runs (eight) and RBI (39). He not only leads the team in runs and ranks in the top five in every major offensive category, but has improved his defensive play of late and is a reason the Tigers are close to setting a program record in fielding percentage for the second straight season.
Mize continues to earn national recognition and headlines the list of some of the best arms in the country. Like the Brooks Wallace Award, the winner of the National Pitcher of the Year Award will be announced by the College Baseball Foundation this summer.
In 13 starts this season, Mize is 9-3 with a 2.73 ERA. He has struck out a SEC-best 124 batters in 89.0 innings pitched and is holding opponents to a .180 batting average against. His 124 strikeouts are the fourth most in the country and 31 more than any other pitcher in the Southeastern Conference. Mize has turned in three complete-game efforts, including the program's first no-hitter since 2002, and matched the program record with 15 strikeouts against Vanderbilt. A year after leading the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio, Mize again tops the list after issuing only eight walks this season (15.50 K-BB). He also leads the league in WHIP (0.74), strikeouts per 9.0 innings (12.54), walks per 9.0 innings (0.81) and complete games.
Holland, Mize and the rest of the Tigers wrap up the regular season with a three-game series vs. LSU (32-21, 14-13 SEC) starting tonight at 6 p.m. CT.