Texas Tech's Brandon Birdsell, Hudson White earn Big 12 baseball awards
Texas Tech's Brandon Birdsell and Hudson White each claimed Big 12 baseball superlatives, the league announced Tuesday.
Birdsell received Big 12 pitcher of the year, while White earned Big 12 freshman of the year.
Birdsell (8-3) had a 2.75 earned-run average in 72 innings. He averaged 12 strikeouts per nine innings and limited opponents to a .204 average, which was tops in the Big 12. Birdsell follows Steven Gingery (2017) as the only Red Raiders to earn conference pitcher of the year.
White is Tech's sixth Big 12 freshman of the year, which included Josh Jung (2017) and Gabe Holt (2018). White, a second-team all-Big 12 selection, hit .337 in conference play with four home runs and 22 RBI. He also had a .435 on-base percentage and .963 OPS in Big 12 games.
Jace Jung joined Birdsell as first-team all-conference. Tech, the No. 2 seed entering the Big 12 tournament, also have five second-teamers.
Cole Stilwell, Kurt Wilson, Easton Murrell, Andrew Morris and White made the all-conference second team. Four others — Derek Bridges, Ty Coleman, Parker Kelly and Owen Washburn — were honorable mention.
Washburn was a unanimous selection to the Big 12 all-freshman team, as was White. Mason Molina also earned all-freshman honors.
The Red Raiders begin the conference tournament against Kansas State at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Globe Life Field.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech's Brandon Birdsell, Hudson White earn Big 12 baseball awards
