THE FLATS – Junior Carson Kerce (Marietta, Ga. / Pope HS) has been named a semifinalist for the Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Award, the College Baseball Foundation announced today. Kerce leads Division I with 22 doubles this season and owns the 6th highest OPS of any shortstop in the country this season.
The Brooks Wallace award honors the nation’s top shortstop and will be presented by the College Baseball Foundation later this year. It is named for former Texas Tech shortstop Brooks Wallace, who played for the Red Raiders from 1977 to 1980. Wallace died of leukemia at the age of 27. Kerce is one of nine ACC shortstops to be named to the Watch List.
This season, Kerce is slashing .383 avg / .476 OBP / .638 slug. (all career highs). He leads Division I with 22 doubles and leads the potent Yellow Jacket offense with 27 extra-base hits, on his way to a 1.114 OPS, the sixth highest of any shortstop in the nation. He is accomplishing all of this at the plate while also showcasing very strong defense in the field. Kerce has started all 40 games of the season at shortstop batting anywhere from leadoff to the nine-hole in the best statistical lineup of the BBCOR era.
Kerce becomes the fourth Yellow Jacket to be named a semifinalist for this award, joining Kyle Lodise (2025), Luke Waddell (2019) and Derek Dietrich (2009). Matt Wieters was also named a semifinalist for the Brooks Wallace Award, when it was the Player of the Year award back in 2006. This is the first time GT has had semifinalists in back-to-back seasons in program history. Kerce is one of 50 shortstops to be named a semifinalist, and one of six in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
For more information on the Brooks Wallace Award or any of the CBF awards, visit the College Baseball Foundation website at www.collegebaseballhall.org.
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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