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Three Top Contenders for the Golden Spikes Award in 2025 

 Alfred Ezman - World Baseball Network  |    May 8th, 2025 6:00am EDT

With the 2025 college baseball season in its final month, here is a look at three of the top contenders for the illustrious Golden Spikes Award. This award is given to the best player in college baseball.  

Alex Lodise, SS, Florida State Seminoles  

Alex Lodise is a straight-up playmaker for Florida State. This season, he has a .436 batting average, 16 home runs, and 60 RBI. He is the ACC leader in hitting this season.  

Lodise becomes very dangerous once he gets his bat going. This season, he has 12 games with three or more hits.  

The junior shortstop’s biggest moment this season came in a neutral-site midweek matchup against the Florida Gators. On March 25, Lodise hit the cycle. He completed the monstrous feat with a walk-off grand slam to knock off Florida State’s archrival in Jacksonville, Fla.  

The Florida State infielder is one of the most potent players in college baseball at the plate. He is a big reason for the Seminoles’ success in 2025 after they lost plenty of production to the MLB draft from last season’s team.  

Wehiwa Aloy, SS, Arkansas Razorbacks  

In his second season playing in Fayetteville, Wehiwa Aloy has lived up to the expectations of a potential first-round pick in the MLB draft.  

This season, the Arkansas shortstop has a .376 batting average with an on-base percentage of .464. He has 17 home runs this season and 52 RBI. He leads the SEC in hits with 76.  

Aloy is also having the best season on defense of his career, which includes his freshman season at Sacramento State. He has a career-best .977 fielding percentage and only has four errors to his name this season.  

The junior from Wailuku, Hawaii, has 25 multi-hit games this season, which is just over half of the Razorbacks’ total games played.  

The bulk of those multi-hit games came at separate times this season when he had three five-game streaks of multi-hit performances.  

Liam Doyle, LHP, Tennessee Volunteers  

Liam Doyle has a case to be the best starting pitcher in college baseball. He has been an electric Friday night ace in Knoxville and a must-watch player when he is on the mound.  

This season, Doyle has a 2.39 ERA in 67.2 innings of work. Over that same stretch, he has struck out 115 batters. He is the country’s current leader in strikeouts.  

The junior from Derry, N.H., also has allowed an opposing batting average of just .147 during his time on the mound in 2025.  

Doyle’s best performance came against his former team, Ole Miss, on April 11 when Tennessee played in Oxford. He went 8.1 innings, struck out 14 hitters, and gave up just three hits. That was one of eight wins he has to his name this season.  

Other Golden Spikes Contenders 

  • Roch Cholowsky, INF, UCLA Bruins
  • Kyson Witherspoon, RHP, Oklahoma Sooners
  • Justin Lebron, SS, Alabama Crimson Tide
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Alfred Ezman - World Baseball Network