(College Baseball Central photo by Noah Darling)
By Noah Darling
OMAHA, NE- Georgia’s Charlie Condon was awarded the Dick Howser Trophy at Charles Schwab Field on Friday following a historic season. The Dick Howser Trophy is awarded by the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) to the nation’s best player. The recognition serves as the sport’s Heisman Trophy.
The Bulldog third baseman clubbed a nation leading 37 home runs on the season, driving in 78 runs in the process. Condon led the nation in slugging percentage, total bases, OPS and batting average, hitting .433 on the year. His 100 base hits trail only Florida State’s Cam Smith and Tennessee’s Christian Moore.
Condon is the first Dick Howser Trophy winner in school history and is a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award as well.
As part of a trio of awards announced by NCBWA during the morning press conference, just prior to the opening of the 77th NCAA Men's College World Series, the NCBWA named Kentucky Head Coach Nick Mingione as the 2024 recipient of the Mike Martin National Coach of the Year honor.
Under Mingione, the Wildcats (45-14) earned the first trip to the MCWS in program history with a 5-0 start to the postseason. As the No. 2 national seed, Kentucky swept the Lexington Regional for the first time in program history, defeating all three visitors: Western Michigan, Illinois and Indiana State. Kentucky followed that with a Super Regional sweep over No. 15 seed Oregon State, winning by scores of 10-0 and 3-2.
Also recognized during the ceremony was Texas A&M's Evan Aschenback as the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award. Aschenbeck is the fourth player from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) to earn this prestigious honor, joining Georgia’s Joshua Fields (2008), Florida’s Michael Byrne (2018) and Arkansas’ Kevin Kopps (2021).
The senior southpaw boasts a 6-1 record and nine saves in 28 appearances. Leading the nation with a 1.66 ERA and 0.80 WHIP, Aschenbeck also ranks fourth nationally with a 9.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He has allowed just 12 earned runs on 44 hits in 65 innings of work, striking out 72 batters while issuing only eight walks and limiting opponents to a .185 batting average.
Follow @CollegeBaseCNT and @TheWkndRotation on X/Twitter throughout the next two weeks for thorough insightful coverage of the MCWS.
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