Nikhazy Unanimous First-Team All-American by ABCA

Junior southpaw Doug Nikhazy has been unanimously named First-Team All-American for the fourth time by ABCA/Rawlings, as announced by American Baseball Coaches Association.

Having earned First Team honors from all four publications recognized by the NCAA — Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA and now ABCA — Nikhazy is officially a unanimous All-American. He joins Drew Pomeranz (2010) and Alex Yarbrough (2012) as the only three Rebels to earn First Team nods from all four publications.

Also named an All-American in 2020 by Collegiate Baseball, Nikhazy is just the fourth player and first pure pitcher to earn two-time All-American status in program history.

The Windermere, Florida, native earned his program-record 12th win of the season in last Saturday’s Super Regional win at No. 5 Arizona. He struck out 10 in the victory, his eighth 10-strikeout performance of the season, to give him 142 on the year. The final outing pushed Nikhazy past Will Kline (134 in 2007) and Drew Pomeranz (139 in 2010) to second on the Rebels’ single-season strikeout chart, behind only Lance Lynn’s 146 strikeout effort in 2007.

The first major highlight of Nikhazy’s junior campaign came in the form of a complete-game, one-hit shutout in front of the largest on-campus crowd in college baseball this season at in-state rival Mississippi State.

The second came in the NCAA Oxford Regional against Florida State, where Nikhazy tied a program record with 16 strikeouts in a 4-3 Rebel victory.

Staff Report