Ole Miss home run king Judd Utermark
If Ole Miss can get past Missouri Tuesday morning at the SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover, Ala., another meeting with rival Mississippi State awaits.
Monday at noon at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, another meeting between the school’s top stars happened. It was the Boo Ferriss Award ceremony. Ferriss the late, great Delta State Head Coach, is honored by having Mississippi’s top collegiate baseball player awarded in his name.
Ole Miss had two finalists for the award this year, third baseman Judd Utermark and pitcher Cade Townsend. Utermark set the Ole Miss career home run record with 54. He also became the first Rebel to have two, 20-plus home run seasons.
The 2026 award winner, however, went to Mississippi State pitcher Tomas Valinicus. Valinicus is a leader in the SEC in wins with nine and in league strikeouts with 86. Ace Reese from State was also a finalist as was pitcher Grayden Harris of Southern Mississippi.
Rebel head coach Mike Bianco quipped that he wasn’t familiar with Harris but certainly with the two Bulldogs.
“We may have seen too much of Valinicus and Reese,” Bianco said.
The event’s featured speaker was Ole Miss great and the very first Ferriss Award winner Stephen Head. Head played for Bianco in 2003-04. He is now the head of amateur scouting for the Central US for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Bianco was also thankful to have met Ferriss.
“Super coach, great career with the Boston Red Sox and even better man,” Bianco said. The Rebel coach recalled how Ferriss waited to meet him.
“We were playing here in the Mayor’s Trophy back in the 2000s, and an aide came up to me and said an older man was waiting for me outside. It turned it out to be Coach Ferriss. He had been to the game and just wanted to say ‘Hi.’ That was a lot for a new coach like me at the time.”
The late, great Dave “Boo” Ferriss
Bianco said both Utermark and Townsend were deserving to be honored.
“Cade overcame a rough freshman year by coming back in the fall and worked with our pitching coach. He became a good teammate, and made great strides this year,” Bianco said.
Bianco called Utermark the “face of the program.”
“He was actually the face of the program last year. He hits 22 home runs but then decides to comeback for his senior season. Not many do that, but he did and he remains the face of our program,” Bianco said.
Bianco’s current team entered Monday ranked 15th in one poll and 19th in the other. Two predictors today had the Rebels at a No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament. One had them going to USM and the other to Oregon State, following last weekend’s series loss at No. 6 Alabama.
