DURHAM, N.C. - After a standout freshman season with Ole Miss baseball, Doug Nikhazy has been selected for this summer's USA Baseball Collegiate National Team training camp.
The freshman out of Windermere, Florida, is the 10th Ole Miss student-athlete to be selected for the Collegiate National Team. A Rebel has been selected for Team USA in each of the past three seasons.
The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team will participate in series of four intrasquad exhibition games and a game against the Coastal Plain League Select before announcing a 26-man roster prior to the 8th USA vs. Cuba International Friendship Series that will take place July 2-6 in Cary, Charlotte, Durham and Hickory, North Carolina. Team USA's 26-man roster will then travel to Taiwan for the 19th USA vs. Chinese Taipei International Friendship Series after which USA Baseball will announce a final 24-man roster to compete in the 43rd USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Series from July 16-21 in Japan.
Earlier this week, Nikhazy earned his second All-American nod of the season, being chosen for Perfect Game's Freshman All-American First Team. Previously, Nikhazy was named Freshman All-SEC by the Southeastern Conference coaches, as well as a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball. During the season, Nikhazy also brought home two SEC Freshman of the Week honors during conference play.
Nikhazy closed the season with a team-best 9-3 record and 3.31 ERA. The freshman worked 89.2 innings over 20 total appearances and 14 starts, striking out an Ole Miss freshman record 86 batters while walking 33.
He opened the season working primarily out of the bullpen but moved into a weekend starting role around the start of SEC play. In his first SEC start, Nikhazy took a no-hitter into the seventh inning at Missouri and ultimately turned in 7.2 innings of two-hit ball, combining on one of four shutouts by the Rebel staff this season.
Nikhazy also combined with Parker Caracci on the fourth Rebel shutout of 2019 against Texas A&M during the SEC Tournament. In an elimination game, Nikhazy outdueled Aggie ace John Doxakis, going eight innings with no runs allowed on just three hits, walking four and striking out two in a 1-0 Rebel victory.
He was outstanding in the NCAA Oxford Regional as well, silencing a dangerous Clemson lineup. Nikhazy went 8-plus innings, allowing just one run on four hits, walking three and striking out nine. He got into some hot water in the eighth inning but struck out the Tigers' top bat, Logan Davidson, who was selected in the first round of the MLB Draft just two days later.
Nikhazy capped one of the best seasons by a freshman pitcher in Ole Miss history with an excellent outing against a dangerous Arkansas lineup in the Fayetteville Super Regional. He went five innings at Baum-Walker Stadium, striking out eight Razorbacks to earn a win in Game 2 of the series. In the victory, he increased his season-long strikeout total to 86, the most ever by a Rebel freshman, surpassing the mark held by two future MLB Rebels, Jeff Calhoun (1977) and Drew Pomeranz (2008).