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NORFOLK — Old Dominion junior infielder Hunter Fitz-Gerald has been named a semifinalist for the 2023 Dick Howser Trophy, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association announced Friday.
The Dick Howser Trophy is the most prestigious award in college baseball, given annually to its top player.
Fitz-Gerald has been nothing short of dominant in his first year for the Monarchs. The transfer from Florida Southwestern State College has been a mainstay in the lineup, starting in all 52 games Old Dominion has played this year.
He’s been a major key from the plate, leading the Monarchs in several offensive statistics all season.
With just two games remaining in the regular season, Fitz-Gerald held a batting average of .321, slugging percentage of .661 and on-base percentage of .404.
Fitz-Gerald’s 21 home runs and 67 RBIs lead the Monarchs and are second and third among players in the Sun Belt Conference, respectively. Those 21 home runs tie him for No. 12 in the entire country.
“Fitz is a really good hitter,” ODU coach Chris Finwood said in March. “He’s more of a professional type of hitter. He can hit the ball all over the ballpark, doesn’t strike out a lot and has really good at-bats. We knew he had a chance to be special, and he’s certainly gotten off to a great start.”
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Fitz-Gerald has also been named a Player of the Week this season by both Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and the Sun Belt.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Fitz-Gerald said of the weekly awards in March. “I had a couple of goals this year and [I’m] on the way to achieving some of them, and it’s just cool to see all your hard work pay off and be recognized nationally for it.”
The list of finalists for the award will be announced June 8. The trophy will be awarded to the winner on MLB Network on June 15, the day before the first game of the College World Series.
Entering Friday, Old Dominion had two more games left in a home series with Georgia State before its regular season wraps up.
As of Friday afternoon, the Monarchs were No. 10 in the Sun Belt standings, meaning they’d have to play in the single-elimination “play-in” portion of the conference tournament on May 23.
ODU will have to sweep the remainder of the series with the Panthers and hope for some chaos in the rankings above in order to avoid the play-in.
Michael Sauls, 757-803-5774, michael.sauls@virginiamedia.com