LUBBOCK, Texas – ETSU senior Chris Cook and Mercer freshman RJ Yeager were among the 53 student-athletes named to the 2018 Brooks Wallace Award watch list Thursday. The award, sponsored by Mizuno, honors the nation’s top shortstop and will be presented this summer by the College Baseball Foundation.

ETSU’s Cook is currently hitting .328 with 26 runs, 18 RBIs, three homers and nine doubles. Cook is also slugging .466 and has a .414 on-base percentage. The Kingsport, Tennessee, native has also hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games.

Mercer’s Yeager is the fourth Mercer shortstop to be named to the watch list, joining Evan Boyd, Michael Massi and Matt Meeder. Massi was named a finalist for the award in 2014.

The freshman from Lynn Haven, Fla., is off to a stellar start to his collegiate career, having played every inning of all 39 games at shortstop for Mercer (26-13). Yeager ranks among SoCon leaders in batting average (.347), hits (50), runs (38), doubles (11), RBIs (33) and on-base percentage (.446). He has also had two hit streaks of 10-plus games as well as a reached-base streak that extended to 27 games up until last weekend.