SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento State freshman infielder Michael Perazzo was named as one of 100 student-athletes from across the country to the initial watch list for the 2025 Brooks Wallace Award on Friday.

The award honors the nation's top shortstop and will be presented by the College Baseball Foundation later this year. It is named for former Texas Tech shortstop Brooks Wallace, who played for the Red Raiders from 1977 to 1980. Wallace died of leukemia at the age of 27. 

Perazzo is one of 11 true or redshirt freshmen out of the group of 100 and is one of four shortstops on the list that hail from the Western Athletic Conference along with Abilene Christian's Nick Arias, Grand Canyon's Emilio Barreras, and Tarleton State's Ike Shirey.

Having appeared in all 37 games for the Hornets and making 31 starts — all at shortstop — following Thursday night's series opener against California Baptist, Perazzo is batting .313 (third on the team) to go along with four doubles, a pair of home runs, and 18 RBI as well as 13 runs scored. 

Slugging .414 on the year with a .384 on-base percentage, Perazzo also enters Friday night's contest ranked No. 2 in the NCAA in sacrifice hits with 12, trailing the national leader by only two. The Redwood City, Calif., native has collected multiple hits in eight of his last 13 outings — moving him into a tie for fourth on the team with 10 multi-hit games this year — while batting .391 with nine runs scored and nine RBI over that stretch. 

Game two of the Hornets' series against California Baptist is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Friday (April 18) at John Smith Field, with Saturday's series finale scheduled for Noon.