Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame announces date for Ferris Trophy presentation

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum has released the official date for the 2023 Ferris Trophy award ceremony, an annual trophy awarded to the best college baseball player in Mississippi.

The Ferris Trophy is named after the Mississippi State all-time great and Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer Dave “Boo” Ferris. He was also the head coach of Delta State University’s baseball program.

The MSHOF announced in a tweet that the award presentation will take place on Monday, May 22, at the Golden Moon Casino, presented by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and the Pearl River Resort.

First-Team All-American pitcher for Southern Miss Tanner Hall won the award in 2022, making him the fourth Golden Eagle in the awards history to win the trophy and the third Southern Miss pitcher.

Hall will certainly be in the conversation to repeat as the award winner after a strong start to the 2023 season.

The junior ace is 4-2 on the mound for the Golden Eagles this season, allowing just 2.45 earned runs per start along with 34 strikeouts so far this season. He just came off his best performance of the season in his last appearance, fanning 10 batters and holding Georgia Southern scoreless in 5.1 innings pitched last Friday.

The nominees have not been officially announced at this time, but Ole Miss’ All-American shortstop Jacob Gonzalez will likely be involved as well as Mississippi State’s Kellum Clark.

Belhaven University’s starting pitcher Brett Sanchez could be a dark-horse for a nomination spot. He has a 3-1 record on the bump for the streaking Blazers - who are on an 11-game winning streak - and allows just under two runs per game.

Sanchez fanned 15 batters just five days ago.

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