JACKSON – Before Monday night’s Ferriss Trophy presentation to the best college baseball player in Mississippi, finalist Craig Newton quipped that he was there as an onlooker and to congratulate Brian Pettway on winning the award.

Three hours later, Newton’s premonition came true as Pettway, the leading hitter in the Southeastern Conference, became the second winner of the trophy named in honor of former Boston Red Sox great Dave “Boo” Ferriss.

“There’s not a more deserving person for that award,” said Newton, a senior catcher who will lead Delta State into the Division II College World Series beginning Saturday. “He’s so humble, so modest and all he does is go out there every day and does his job. He competes like a champion.”

Pettway beat out Newton, a former high school teammate at Warren Central, Ole Miss teammate Stephen Head and Millsaps standout Garner Wetzel. Head won the inaugural award last year.

“This is an amazing honor,” said Pettway, who wears the same number for the Rebels (33) as Ferriss wore for the Red Sox. “… To be voted as the best player in Mississippi for 2005 is just a great honor. All three of the other guys could have won this award.”

Not all of them have put up the astronomical numbers Pettway has in one of the toughest conferences in the country.

He leads the Southeastern Conference with a .400 batting average, and leads Ole Miss in doubles (18) and home runs (17). He has played first base, third base and has pitched, but his main position has been right field.

“People ask me if it is a surprise what he has done this year?” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “You have to remember, this is a guy that was hitting cleanup the first game of his freshman year. We all knew what he could do.”

Pettway will now shift his focus from hauling around the 40-pound Ferriss Trophy to trying to secure another one – the SEC Tournament crown.

The Rebels begin play on Wednesday in Hoover, Ala., against Alabama, a team that beat Ole Miss twice this season.

“We’re playing well right now and hopefully we can carry that over into the tournament,” Pettway said. “We’re looking forward to that and ready to get going.”

Head, a pitcher-first baseman from Raymond, was 7-2 with a 2.89 ERA, and is tied with Pettway for the team lead in home runs.

Newton led the Statesmen with 13 home runs and 66 RBIs, and finished the regular season with a .358 average.

Wetzel, an infielder from Gulfport, leads the Majors in most offensive categories, with a .422 batting average and 12 home runs.

Pettway was chosen from a panel that included 12 professional scouts that work Mississippi, the head coaches of the 12 four-year baseball playing schools in the state and one media member.

“This is very deserving on both of their parts,” said Mississippi College assistant Sam Temple, who coached both Pettway and Newton at WC. “It’s a blessing for me to have been able to coach them and watch them grow up.

“They’re here because they’re great baseball players, but they are being honored because they are great young men with great families.”