JACKSON – Brian Pettway of Mississippi won the Boo FerrissTrophy on Monday night as the top college baseball player in thestate, and he beat a couple of teammates – one past, one current -to do it.

Pettway was voted the winner by a panel of major league scouts,coaches and media from across Mississippi, and was introducedduring a ceremony at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame andMuseum.

”I’m real excited, real honored to get this award,” Pettwaysaid. ”It’s unbelievable, too much to fathom.”

Former American League President and ex-New York Yankees thirdbaseman Bobby Brown was the keynote speaker before the secondstraight presentation of the top honor for a Mississippi collegebaseball player to yet another Ole Miss Rebel.

Pettway’s college teammate, Stephen Head, won the award lastyear and this time was one of four finalists – all Mississippians.The other two were Craig Newton of Delta State – who played withPettway at Warren Central High School – and Garner Wetzel ofMillsaps.

”I guess it’s a bragging right,” Pettway said. ”Stephen’s agreat player, and so is Craig. It’s just a great opportunity for mepersonally and for Ole Miss baseball to have them in back-to-backyears and to have two guys as finalists.”

Pettway, an outfielder from Vicksburg, led the SoutheasternConference with a .400 batting average and was tied for sixth with57 RBIs and tied for fourth in homers with 17. He also is afinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, given to the top collegebaseball player in the nation.

Head, a pitcher-first baseman from Raymond, finished the regularseason fourth with 60 RBIs and tied for fourth with 17 home runs.On the mound, he was seventh in the league with a 2.73 ERA, and heand Pettway helped Ole Miss win a share of its first SEC West titlein 23 years.

”To have the first two (Ferriss Trophy winners) go to Ole Miss,they’re going to be next to each other next to Archie Manning’sstuff and Eli’s stuff – going to be mine and Brian’s trophiesthere,” Head said. ”It really says something about the coachingstaff, the kind of kids they recruit and the system, the work tobuild it up.

”There’s no more building,” he added. ”We won the (SEC) West,and we’re doing some good things.”

Newton, a catcher from Vicksburg, helped defending nationalchampion Delta State reach the Division II World Series for thesecond straight year. He led the Statesmen with 13 home runs and 66RBIs, and finished the regular season with a .358 average.

Wetzel, an infielder from Gulfport, led the Majors in mostoffensive categories, including batting average (.422) and homers(12).

But Pettway helped prolong the baseball renaissance at Ole Miss,which last year played host to an NCAA regional for the first time,and this year shared the SEC West with LSU and matched the schoolrecord with 40 wins.

”A lot of kids believed in us four or five years ago, when wedidn’t have much to hang our hat on,” Ole Miss coach Mike Biancosaid. ”So I’m proud of a lot of people … Brian, Stephen and alot of players before them who have made a difference in theprogram, and made the program what it is today.”

The trophy is named for Dave ”Boo” Ferriss, a native of Shawwho starred for Mississippi State and the Boston Red Sox beforecoaching at Delta State for more than 30 years.

It is sponsored by Cellular South.