By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA – Jimmy Herget's freshman season just keeps getting better.
The right-hander and Tampa native produced amazing statistics as USF's Friday night starter and got rewarded for his efforts Tuesday night when he named Big East Rookie of the Year at the the conference's pre-tournament ceremony in Clearwater.
“It means everything. I made it my goal to come in here, try to get something like that and luckily it happened for me,” Herget said.
Herget, USF's second Big East Rookie of the Year, also was named to the All-Big East Second Team after going 5-2 with and finishing second in the conference with a 1.77 earned run average. Opponents hit only 1.92 against the former Jefferson High School star during his 13 starts in the regular season.
“It was definitely about getting my first pitch over and definitely locking in and getting my control down coming out of high school,” Herget said.
Junior center fielder James Ramsay earned All-Big East First-Team honors after leading USF with a .338 batting average and setting career highs in doubles (13), RBIs (40) and hits (78).
USF's Lawrence Pardo, Kyle Teaf and Jimmy Falla also were rewarded for their solid efforts by being named to the All-Big East Third Team.
Pardo, a junior left-hander, tied for the team lead with five wins and finished with a 1.87 ERA in 31 appearances. Teaf, a sophomore, posted a .947 fielding percentage as USF's everyday shortstop and set career highs in batting average (.296), doubles (12), RBIs (22), runs (55) and hits (66).
Falla, a senior first baseman/DH, led the Bulls with 47 RBIs and finished third on the team with a .312 batting average in 54 games, all starts.
Fourth-seeded USF gets its conference tournament run started 8 p.m. Wednesday against fifth-seeded Rutgers at Bright House Field in Clearwater.
Fans can head over to BigEastBaseball.com for full coverage of the action. The site will provide links to ESPN3 telecasts of all games from the first four days of competition and Sunday's Big East championship game will be televised nationally on ESPNU starting at noon.
View the complete list of the Big East's postseason awards HERE.
Home Run Derby Rained Out
Tuesday night's Home Run Derby at Bright House Field was cancelled due to inclement weather.
