The No. 3 Texas Tech baseball team had a great showing on the regular season voting ballot, picking up 12 awards from the Big 12 for their play during the regular season.
For the second-straight year, the Player of the Year title stayed in Lubbock, as senior Hunter Hargrove earned the award. Sophomore left-hander Steven Gingery received the program’s first Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honor and freshman infielder Josh Jung brought home Freshman of the Year.
No other school had more than one student-athlete recognized among the four awards.
In addition to the individual accolades, nine Red Raiders were placed among the respective All-Big 12 squads. Gingery and junior infielder Orlando Garcia were unanimous selections to the first team, and were joined by Hargrove and sophomore outfielder Cody Farhat. Tech was the only school to have unanimous selections on the first team.
Jung picked up second team accolades, while junior left-hander Parker Mushinski received an honorable mention nod.
Tech also had three first-year student-athletes slotted on the All-Big 12 freshman team, as Jung was joined by catcher Michael Berglund and outfielder Grant Little. Both Jung and Little were also unanimous selections.
It was the first career honors for the individual awards for Gingery, Hargrove and Jung. With the Player of the Year award, Tech became the first school to claim the honor in back-to-back seasons, as Eric Gutierrez took home the accolade in 2016. It was also the first time two different student-athletes from the same school playing the same position earn the award in consecutive years.
Garcia and Gingery are the only Red Raiders to have appeared on an All-Big 12 squad previous to this year’s listing. In 2015, Garcia was named to the All-Freshman team, while Gingery picked up All-Freshman and second team accolades last season.
The team and the awards are voted on by the league’s head coaches, who are not allowed to vote for their own players.
The Red Raiders return to action for the opening round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on Wednesday, May 24, against Oklahoma State at 12:30 p.m.
(Courtesy: Texas Tech Sports Communications Department)
