Midseason Collegiate Awards

Vincent Cervino

Craig Cozart

Photo: Kyson Witherspoon (Oklahoma Athletics)

Midseason Player of the Year

Alex Lodise – IF - Florida State

Lodise, the 6-1/190 infielder from St. Augustine, Florida, started his career down I-10 at the University of North Florida where he was an everyday starter at short stop and First Team All-ASUN award winner. He had a monster season batting .306 with 14 doubles, 16 home runs and 63 runs batted in. Transferring to FSU for his sophomore season, he started 62 games in 2024 and went through an adjustment period to ACC competition batting .281 with 14 doubles, 9 home runs and 44 RBI. Fast forward to this year and he is on pace to double most of his personal single season highs in virtually every batting category. Lodise is currently 4th in the nation with a .466 BA, leads the nation in average hits per game, tied for 22nd in home runs with 11, and his .871 slugging percentage is 7th in the nation. Beyond helping his club get off to an impressive (23-4) start to the season, he has played himself into late Day 1 to early Day 2 consideration in the coming MLB Amateur Draft.

Midseason Pitcher of the Year

Kyson Witherspoon – RHP – Oklahoma

At 6-2/207, the right handed pitcher from Jacksonville, Florida, started his career at Northwest Florida State College where he made 17 appearances, going 69.2 innings pitched with a 3.10 ERA. The following year he found himself in Norman and would lead OU with a 3.71 ERA in 80.0 innings pitched, 11 starts, 17 appearances and 8-3 record while accumulating a 90:40 strikeout-to-walk ratio. After a stint with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, Witherspoon has taken his craft to another level. Armed with a fastball that lives in the mid-90s and will touch 98 mph and backing that up with a tight cutter and devastating mid-80s slider, he has emerged as the top starting pitcher in the country. He is (5-1) on the year in 7 starts with a 2.31 ERA in 39.0 innings pitched, holding opponents to a .189 batting average with a tremendous 64:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Sooners looks like national title contenders and Witherspoon could be the first college arm off the board in this July’s MLB Draft.

Midseason Freshman of the Year

Derek Curiel – OF – LSU

Ranked by Perfect Game as the No. 1 Top 75 Freshman for the 2025 season, Curiel has somehow surpassed all expectations. Leading the Tigers in batting average at .408, runs scored with 38 and on-base percentage at .555, he has been the sparkplug for their explosive offense. He uses the big part of the field, driving the ball gap-to-gap on his way to 9 doubles, 2 triples, 3 home runs and 24 runs batted in. Adding significant physicality to his 6-2 frame, he now weighs 182 pounds, and the results have been him doing more damage with the stick. While it would be anticipated that his performance may take a hit once the challenge of SEC play began, Curiel continues to lead LSU in most offensive categories in league plays. In 9 conference starts, he is slashing .371/.629/.500 with a double, triple, 2 home runs and with 7 RBIs and a team leading 11 runs scored. The Tigers are an elite team with their sights on Omaha and with Curiel producing like he is, they would be a pretty safe bet to reach the promised land.

Midseason Two-Way Player of the Year

Ethan Hedges – IF/RHP – Southern Cal

The physicality and athleticism required to be a legitimate two-way player in D1 baseball are rare to find but the 6-1/185 Hedges is an elite example. The junior from Fountain Valley, California is putting together an epic season for the Trojans after being a position player only for his first two seasons. In 2025, he is thriving on both sides of the ball and the bat may be his loudest tool. So far this year he is slashing .413/.817/.508 with 6 doubles, 3 triples, 10 home runs, 34 runs batted in, and he has also swiped 7 bags. He leads the Trojans in every major offensive category with the exception of doubles, has hit safely in 25 of 27 games and he has been their stopper on the mound at the end of games. Using his low-to-mid 90s fastball and quality breaker, Hedges has made 9 appearances and registered 8 saves with an opponent’s batting average of .188 so far. Southern Cal is looking to make some noise in their first year of play in the Big 10, and Hedges will be in the thick of it.

Midseason Coach of the Year

Tony Vitello – Tennessee

Having picked up just about every coach’s award out there in 2024, it would have been reasonable to think Vitello may not be able to duplicate last year’s success. Well, nothing could be further from the truth as the Vols once again find themselves atop every Top-25 poll across the nation. Vitello has his club sitting (26-2) as well as (8-1) in SEC play, which has them in a 3-way tie for first place in the conference. Tennessee set the all-time SEC record for consecutive wins in the season following a national title as they reeled off 20 victories to open up 2025. In the transfer portal era, it is vital to attract the best transfer talent in the nation, but it is equally as important to retain your best players. Vitello and staff seem to have figured out the formula for both and at mid-season are the odds on favorites to win the national title yet again.

Midseason Team of the Year

Tennessee Volunteers

Life of the SEC defending national champion in the previous 4 years has been a difficult road to navigate. In 2021, the Mississippi State Bulldogs followed up their title run with sub-.500 record and failed to make the SEC tournament. The Ole Miss Rebels won the national title the following year and followed the same path only winning 25 games and fell short of reaching Hoover. So, the LSU Tigers took home the hardware in 2023 and followed up with a quality season of 43 wins but saw their season end in the Chapel Hill Regional. The Vols won it all in 2025 and have shown no signs of a hangover, racing out to a (20-0) record to start the season and are (26-2) overall with their sights on another SEC Regular Season title. This year’s club is an offensive juggernaut, batting .317 as a team, having hit 68 home runs (3rd in the nation) on their way to scoring on average 10.5 runs per game (2nd in the nation). They have scored 211 more runs than their opponents and an almost 1:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio as a team with an outrageous .447 OB%. As good as they are with the sticks, they may be better on the mound as they lead the nation in team ERA with a 2.54 and also lead the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 4.28 as a staff. They are as deep as they are good with 15 pitchers having made at least 5 appearances as they spread the workload and keep arms fresh down the stretch. This team plays with freedom but remains disciplined and they thrive under the expectations that they are the frontrunners for another national championship.

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