South Alabama’s Ethan Wilson added another honor to his already storied baseball career when he was named National Co-Freshman of the Year by Collegiate Baseball newspaper on Wednesday.

North Carolina designated hitter Aaron Sabato was the other player honored.

“It’s an honor,” Wilson said. “I’m just getting started. All these awards are nice, but I just want to take this into next year. It helps me knowing that I will come into the season with a lot of confidence.”

Wilson was on fire for South Alabama as he quickly shattered the school record for home runs by a freshman.

In 56 games, Wilson hit .346/.453/.686 with 16 doubles, 17 home runs, 51 RBIs, 59 runs scored and 151 total bases.

Wilson finished seventh in the Sun Belt in batting average and second in home runs.

Wilson was also named a third-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball and Sun Belt Conference Player and Freshman of the Year.

He was the only freshman to win conference POY and FOY.

Looking ahead to next year, Wilson said he will just keep the same approach.

“Hitting all starts with your approach,” Wilson said. “I developed an approach this year and I stuck with that approach. You can’t get too carried away with who is pitching. You have to stay level headed and not try to do too much. I’m going to work hard in the offseason and hit a lot off of the pitching machine. I plan on keeping my same approach at the plate.”

During the summer, Wilson said he will stay in Mobile and continue to work on baseball.

“I’m not going to be playing in travel ball this summer,” Wilson said. “I’m going to work some travel ball tournaments down here and work at some kids camps. I will also be working out and hitting. A lot of my teammates that aren’t playing travel ball will be here also so we will get some work in together.”

Although the year didn’t go how he wanted for the team, Wilson was happy with how he performed.

“I was pleased with the season for the most part,” Wilson said. “We had some ups and downs as a team. I struck out more than I would have liked to, but that’s all part of the game. I was pleased with my performance as a freshman, but now it’s just a matter of learning from the year and moving forward. I have a lot of things that I need to improve on at the plate. It was a good year, but I hope to keep getting better and have even better years to come.”