BATON ROUGE — LSU coach Paul Mainieri honored on Monday two of his senior players ? third baseman Michael Hollander and pitcher Jared Bradford ? during the Tigers’ postseason gathering at Walk-On’s Bistreaux.
The team met at Walk-On’s to watch the NCAA Tournament bracket announcement on ESPN.
After the tournament field was revealed, Mainieri presented Hollander with the Wally Pontiff Jr. Scholar Athlete Award, and he presented Bradford with the Skip Bertman Award for inspirational leadership.
The Pontiff Award is named for Wally Pontiff Jr., an all-SEC third baseman at LSU who played for the Tigers from 2000-02. Pontiff, an SEC Academic Honor Roll selection, died tragically in 2002 due to a heart abnormality.
“I would rather receive this than the Golden Spikes Award,” Hollander said. “It’s such an honor. I’m so close to the Pontiff family. Growing up I always looked up to Wally, and Nick (current LSU player Nicholas Pontiff) and I were always friends. So I looked up to Wally like someone would look up to an older brother. To receive something like this is a great honor, and the Pontiff family is such a great family.”
Hollander has a 3.3 GPA in communication studies, and he has been a four-year starter for the Tigers at shortstop and third base.
The Skip Bertman Award is named for the Tigers’ legendary former coach and current athletics director. Bertman directed LSU to five national championships during his coaching tenure (1984-2001), and he is retiring as athletics director next month after serving in that capacity for seven years.
It’s a great honor,” Bradford said about winning the Bertman Award. “It’s something I never thought I would be able to have, and I feel really fortunate to be able to come here and play baseball the past two years. I have done things individually that I thought I would never be able to do, but as a team I think we have made a lot of improvements from last year.
“I think a lot of guys deserve the award because of the significance of courage and leadership, and we have so many guys who are really good and have those qualities within them. It’s an honor for me to be able to be a part of this program. The award is awesome, but at the same time everybody else is the same way and they show the same kind of courage. But I definitely feel honored.”
Bradford, a 2007 all-SEC selection, has 20 wins and nine saves in two seasons at LSU. He was also named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll in 2007.
Mainieri Honors Bradford, Hollander with Team Awards