By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com
Three Ole Miss baseball players were tabbed to the 2020 Collegiate Baseball All-American teams on Tuesday.
Keenan’s play as the top third baseman in the country named him to first-team All-American at the hot corner. Servideo was selected as the second-team shortstop, behind only the National Player of the Year, Nick Gonzales, at the position. Finally, Nikhazy was chosen as one of six Southeastern Conference pitchers on the third team.
Keenan’s tremendous start to the 2020 season named him the nation’s No. 1 third baseman in D1Baseball power rankings.
The Clayton, North Carolina native backed up his Preseason All-American billing as he paced the SEC and was second nationally with 33 RBI. Keenan was fourth in the nation and led the SEC in total bases with 53. His seven home runs were good for second in the conference and eighth in the country. The two-time SEC Player of the Week reached base in all 17 games and finished the season on an 11-game hit streak.
Servideo moved to shortstop this past season and had a strong performance for the Rebels. He ended the season as No. 2 shortstop in the nation in D1Baseball power rankings and followed only Keenan on the Ole Miss stat sheet with a .390 batting average.
The junior out of Jupiter, Florida, tapped into another level of power in 2020, knocking five home runs after hitting just four in his first two collegiate seasons combined. As the everyday leadoff hitter, Servideo was an on-base machine, finishing second in the nation in walks drawn (24) and ninth nationally in on-base percentage (.575). From there, he was lethal on the basepaths, scoring 24 runs, good for fourth in the nation and second in the SEC. He was also 9-for-10 in stolen base attempts, good for the second-most stolen bases in the conference.
Nikhazy lived up to his Preseason All-American billing as well, earning a spot on the third team after working to a 3-1 record and 2.35 ERA with 31 strikeouts and nine walks over 23.0 innings pitched. The sophomore out of Windermere, Florida, went at least 5.0 IP in every single start as the team’s Friday night arm.
The 2019 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team member started his season going 5.1 innings with four runs allowed in Rebels’ only loss of the year in the season opener vs. No. 1 Louisville, working against the Cardinals’ ace and first-team All-American Reid Detmers. Nikhazy bounced back and was named SEC Pitcher of the Week after going 6.0 no-hit innings with nine strikeouts in a combined no-hitter over Xavier. Nikhazy picked up his second win of the year the following week vs. High Point, which sparked a Rebel sweep of the Keith LeClair Classic. He closed his season with another no-hit outing, notching 6.0 scoreless and hitless innings in route over Princeton.
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