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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Stephen Head Named SEC Freshman Of The Year
5/20/2003 | Baseball
May 20, 2003
OXFORD, Miss. - Stephen Head, a freshman first baseman/left-handed pitcher for the Ole Miss Rebels, was named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year on Monday, as voted on by the conference's head coaches. He also garnered second team All-SEC honors as a relief pitcher.
Head is the second straight Rebel freshman to win the SEC Freshman of the Year award. Current sophomore outfielder Seth Smith, a high school teammate of Head at Jackson's Hillcrest Christian , won the award last year.
Entering the SEC Tournament on Wednesday, Head has appeared in 52-of-56 games, drawing 44 starts, and leads the Rebels with a .341 average. He also has six home runs and a team-best 39 RBIs.
On the mound, Head has made 18 appearances, including two starts, recording a 3-1 record with 13 saves and a team-best 1.06 ERA (42.1 IP, 5 ER). The 13 saves is a new Ole Miss single-season record and ranks second in the conference entering the SEC Tournament. The freshman from Raymond, Miss., earned wins over Stetson, Alabama and South Carolina. The win over South Carolina marked a complete-game, two-hit shutout for Head. It was the first complete-game shutout by a Rebel pitcher in more than two years.
"We are very proud of Stephen and what he has accomplished this year," said Rebel head coach Mike Bianco. "It's a tremendous honor to be recognized as Freshman of the Year in the No. 1 baseball conference in the country. There is no doubt that he is very deserving."
LSU and Ole Miss are the only two schools in the league to have players win SEC Freshman of the Year honors since the award was started in 2000. The Tigers' Mike Fontenot won the inaugural award in 2000 and current LSU junior Lane Mestepey, a left handed pitcher, was the 2001 SEC Freshman of the Year.
In the 2002 season, Smith became the first Rebel to earn Freshman of the Year honors as he set six freshman records at Ole Miss, including: batting average (.402), hits (82), singles (67), RBIs (52), total bases (107), and on-base average (.452).
Head and the Rebels will open play at the SEC Tournament at the Hoover-Metropolitan Stadium in Birmingham on Wednesday. Fifth-seeded Ole Miss will face off against arch-rival and fourth-seeded Mississippi State at 5 p.m. CST.
