Special to Gatorsports.com
HOOVER, Ala. — SEC regular-season baseball champion Florida had six players earn recognition Monday from the league for their performances along with head coach Kevin O’Sullivan.
Junior third baseman Jonathan India was named the SEC Player of the Year and classmate Brady Singer was named the Pitcher of the Year. O’Sullivan was named the Coach of the Year, the third time he has earned the award (also 2010, 2014).
India leads the SEC in slugging percentage (.730), on-base percentage (.506) and walks (45). He is batting .365 with 16 homers. Singer owns a 10-1 record and 2.25 ERA.
Florida (41-15), which held its top ranking despite being swept last weekend, is the second school in SEC history to have the Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year and Coach of the Year in the same season. In 2008, Georgia’s Gordon Beckham (Player), Joshua Fields (Pitcher) and David Perno (Coach) were honored.
In addition to India and Singer, senior catcher JJ Schwarz and junior closer Michael Byrne were selected to the All-SEC First Team. India was also named to the SEC All-Defensive Team.
Sophomore outfielder Wil Dalton and junior right-hander Jackson Kowar were named to the Second Team.
Singer is the third UF player to be named SEC Pitcher of the Year, joining Justin Hoyman (2004) and Logan Shore (2016). India is the third player to win SEC Player of the year (Matt LaPorta, 2005 and 2007; Mike Zunino, 2011).
The Gators earned the No. 1 overall seed for this week’s SEC Tournament in Hoover and will open play Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. ET against either LSU or Mississippi State.
2018 SEC BASEBALL AWARDS
Player of the Year: Jonathan India, Florida
Pitcher of the Year: Brady Singer, Florida
Freshman of the Year: Heston Kjerstad, Arkansas
Coach of the Year: Kevin O’Sullivan, Florida
Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Keegan McGovern, Georgia
Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Nico Mascia, Tennessee
First-Team All-SEC
C: JJ Schwarz, Florida
1B: Kole Cottam, Kentucky
2B: Carson Shaddy, Arkansas
3B: Jonathan India, Florida
SS: Braden Shewmake, Texas A&M
OF: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State
OF: Ryan Olenek, Ole Miss
OF: Keegan McGovern, Georgia
DH/UT: Luke Heyer, Kentucky
SP: Brady Singer, Florida
SP: Casey Mize, Auburn
RP: Michael Byrne, Florida
Second-Team All-SEC Team
C: Nick Fortes, Ole Miss
1B: Adam Sasser, Georgia
2B: Michael Helman, Texas A&M
3B: Casey Martin, Arkansas
SS: Will Holland, Auburn
OF: Eric Cole, Arkansas
OF: Wil Dalton, Florida
OF: Heston Kjerstad, Arkansas
DH/UT: Michael Curry, Georgia
SP: Blaine Knight, Arkansas
SP: Jackson Kowar, Florida
RP: Parker Caracci, Ole Miss
Freshman All-SEC Team
C: Mason Meadows, Georgia
1B: Tanner Allen, Mississippi State
2B: Anthony Servideo, Ole Miss
3B: Casey Martin, Arkansas
OF: Heston Kjerstad, Arkansas
OF: Daniel Cabrera, LSU
OF: Steven Williams, Auburn
DH/UT: Edouard Julien, Auburn
SP: Ma’Khail Hilliard, LSU
SP: Tanner Burns, Auburn
RP: Cody Greenhill, Auburn
SEC All-Defensive Team
C: Grant Koch, Arkansas
1B: Cole Zabowski, Ole Miss
2B: Luke Jarvis, Auburn
3B: Jonathan India, Florida
SS: Connor Kaiser, Vanderbilt
OF: Zach Watson, LSU
OF: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State
OF: Dominic Fletcher, Arkansas
P: Will Neely, Tennessee
And yet our “fans” were on here bashing the team and players this past weekend. Go Gators!! Now bring home some more hardware.
I think most of the “bashing” fans were trying to get the point across to the team that you can never rest on your laurels. Never be complacent and expect to succeed. That’s what it looked like the team did this weekend. They were swept by a good team but not one that should have humiliated the Gators the way they did.
If you really think bashing the players and coaches on a forum like this helps in any way, you might need to rethink your life. Sully has coached us to levels the Gator baseball program always dreamed of getting to. Maybe the posters should enjoy the ride and appreciate all the hard work the players and coaches put in year round. Go Gators!
Sully was just adapting to the schedule change this eeek. Kinda like he did in the CWS, which turned out pretty well. In Sully I trust.