STARKVILLE, Miss. — Bulldog first baseman/pitcher Daryl Norris has been honored by the Southeastern Conference as the league’s freshman of the week. It’s the second such honor in six weeks for the MSU rookie from Fairhope, Ala., who was the SEC’s initial freshman honoree for baseball this season.

Norris (.359/1-0, 1 save, 0.75 ERA) starred for the Bulldogs at the plate and on the mound last weekend in helping lead Mississippi State to its first SEC series sweep in 34 series dating back to 2007. He opened the first two games of the Auburn series at first base, registering a pair of multi-hit games and a .556 weekend batting average while scoring four runs. Norris then took the hill in Sunday’s series finale against the Tigers, earning his first career win with a season-longest 5.1-inning relief appearance in State’s sweep-clinching 5-0 shutout of No. 20 Auburn. He allowed two singles and retired 16 of the 18 batters faced to help secure State’s fourth shutout of the campaign and MSU’s first against an SEC opponent in 88 league games. In four relief appearances (12.0 IP) Norris has compiled a 0.75 ERA with a win, a save, 12 strikeouts and one run allowed.

“We are really proud of Daryl,” said MSU head coach John Cohen. “As a two-way player many times a young man can lose focus. But Daryl has been able to separate the two positions and be productive on a high level offensively and on the mound. We feel privileged to have several highly-skilled freshmen like Daryl contributing on our ball club this year.”