Chalk up another preseason All-America honor for Bulldog pitcher Paul Maholm.
The junior left-hander from Holly Springs, Miss., is one of seven Southeastern Conference players named Friday to Baseball America’s Preseason All-America team. The team is selected by the scouting directors of Major League Baseball.
Maholm, who also earned Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball Preseason All-America third team honors in December, led Mississippi State with a 10-3 record as a sophomore. He compiled a 3.43 earned run average with a team-best 77 strikeouts and six complete games in 2002.
South Carolina catcher Landon Powell was named to the first team, while Maholm was joined on the second team by Georgia third baseman Lee Mitchell, LSU shortstop Aaron Hill, Florida outfielder Ben Harrison and Vanderbilt pitcher Jeremy Sowers. Catcher Javi Herrera of Tennessee and Auburn outfielder Javon Moran were third-team selections.
Mississippi State, ranked 11th by Collegiate Baseball and 17th by Baseball America, opens its 2003 campaign Feb. 21-23, hosting Birmingham-Southern and Connecticut in the third annual National Bank of Commerce Classic.