Nikhazy, Gonzalez Named All-Americans by D1Baseball

Doug Nikhazy and Jacob Gonzalez added to their list of laurels Monday, earning All-America status from D1Baseball.

Nikhazy, already a unanimous All-American with first team selections from ABCA/Rawlings, Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA, notched his fifth First Team All-America of the 2021 season. Gonzalez added his second All-America selection, already holding Second Team honors from NCBWA.

Nikhazy joined 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-America status in program history.

The junior out of Windermere, Florida, earned his program-record 12th win of the season with a 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.

Gonzalez joins Stephen Head as just the second player in program history to be named an All-American as a freshman. He also joins Don Kessinger, Jimmy Yawn, Steve Dillard, Zack Cozart, Grae Kessinger and Anthony Servideo as the seventh Rebel All-American shortstop. This marks the third consecutive season the Rebels have had an All-American at the position.

Gonzalez started every game at shortstop and led Ole Miss in batting average (.355), runs scored (73) and hits (93). The freshman out of Glendora, California, set single-season freshman records in games played (67), runs scored, RBI (55), total bases (147), and walks (38). Gonzalez led the SEC in hits and runs scored when his season came to a close, ranking fourth in the nation in those categories. He leads all true freshmen nationally in both hits and runs scored.

Sports Editor