Slade Wilks Earns Third-Team All-America Honors by the NCBWA
6/12/2024 4:15:00 PM | Baseball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss designated hitter Slade Wilks (Columbia, Miss.) earned third-team All-American honors by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association in an announcement Wednesday by the organization.
Wilks completed his Golden Eagle baseball career this month at the NCAA Knoxville Regional with a 36-game hitting streak as the Golden Eagles finished with a 43-20 record and their eight-straight NCAA postseason appearance under their belts. Wilks' streak ranks second best in school history, trailing only Todd Nace, who hit in 41-straight games in 1991.
Wilks finished his final collegiate season with a .336 batting average which included 20 doubles, a triple, 14 home runs and 69 RBI. His home run and RBI numbers were team highs, while his doubles total tied for team best. During his hitting streak, Wilks hit .386 (56-for-145) with 31 runs, 14 doubles, a triple, nine home runs and 48 RBI to go along with a 1.129 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage).
The most remarkable thing about Wilks' streak was that he only extended it three times during his final plate appearance of a game – all three coming over the final month of the season. The three times came at Arkansas State (May 10) with a single in the ninth, a go-ahead two-run double against Coastal Carolina (May 22) in the eighth on a 3-0 count that scored the first two runs of the game, and a single up the middle in his final collegiate at bat in the eighth at Tennessee (June 2).
Wilks hit safely in 54 of 62 games played during the year and collected a hit in every true road game during the season.
He becomes the first All-American in the Christian Ostrander era as the program has now had at least one All-American selection in each of the last eight seasons. He is also the 17th different player to earn an All-America nod of 21 total awards from the NCBWA since 2003.
Earlier this week, Wilks earned ABCA/Rawlings first-team All-South Region accolades. This is his first All-America honor. Wilks also earned third-team Academic All-American honors in 2023.
Wilks completed his Golden Eagle baseball career this month at the NCAA Knoxville Regional with a 36-game hitting streak as the Golden Eagles finished with a 43-20 record and their eight-straight NCAA postseason appearance under their belts. Wilks' streak ranks second best in school history, trailing only Todd Nace, who hit in 41-straight games in 1991.
Wilks finished his final collegiate season with a .336 batting average which included 20 doubles, a triple, 14 home runs and 69 RBI. His home run and RBI numbers were team highs, while his doubles total tied for team best. During his hitting streak, Wilks hit .386 (56-for-145) with 31 runs, 14 doubles, a triple, nine home runs and 48 RBI to go along with a 1.129 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage).
The most remarkable thing about Wilks' streak was that he only extended it three times during his final plate appearance of a game – all three coming over the final month of the season. The three times came at Arkansas State (May 10) with a single in the ninth, a go-ahead two-run double against Coastal Carolina (May 22) in the eighth on a 3-0 count that scored the first two runs of the game, and a single up the middle in his final collegiate at bat in the eighth at Tennessee (June 2).
Wilks hit safely in 54 of 62 games played during the year and collected a hit in every true road game during the season.
He becomes the first All-American in the Christian Ostrander era as the program has now had at least one All-American selection in each of the last eight seasons. He is also the 17th different player to earn an All-America nod of 21 total awards from the NCBWA since 2003.
Earlier this week, Wilks earned ABCA/Rawlings first-team All-South Region accolades. This is his first All-America honor. Wilks also earned third-team Academic All-American honors in 2023.
Players Mentioned
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