Dean Curley named to All-SEC Freshman Team, Drew Beam adds Scholar-Athlete of Year accolade

Tennessee baseball was well represented when the Southeastern Conference unveiled the 2024 postseason awards and all-conference teams Monday afternoon as shortstop Dean Curley was named to the All-Freshman squad and right-handed pitcher Drew Beam was recognized as the league’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year.    

It’s the first postseason All-SEC honor for the youngster Curley and the first for Beam since reeling in Freshman of the Year and a Second-Team All-SEC nod two years ago following the 2022 campaign.

The two join a total of six Vols who earned postseason awards from the SEC on Monday. Second baseman Christian Moore and outfielder Dylan Dreiling were named to the First-Team while first baseman Blake Burke and outfielder Kavares Tears were Second-Team recipients – and were members of the All-Defensive squad.

Tennessee clinched a share of the SEC regular season title on the final day of the regular season with a 4-1 win over South Carolina, coupled with a 12-4 Vanderbilt win over Kentucky. The Vols and Wildcats finished conference play with identical 22-8 records in conference play, but Tennessee owns the tiebreaker and will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament this week due to owning the tiebreaker from winning the three-game series in April.

Curley stepped into the starting lineup following the opening weekend of play and hasn’t left – producing a stellar first-year in college baseball while manning arguably the hardest defensive position on the field at shortstop. The freshman did commit 11 errors in the field, but managed a .936 fielding clip while registering 113 assists and 47 putouts. Although third base is likely his future on the infield dirt, Curley showed his versatility in a major way by playing the everyday shortstop role for the SEC champion Vols in 2024.  

At the plate, the freshman impressed with a .284 batting average with nine home runs and 37 RBI. He led the team with nine stolen bases (on nine attempts), scored 40 runs, totaled 83 bases and walked 26 times.

Curley dominated Kansas State on March 5 by tying the program record with three home runs – becoming the first freshman to accomplish the feat – while tying the Tennessee freshman record for nine runs batted in for a singe contest.

Beam was once again a staple for the Vols in the starting rotation as a junior this season, making all 14 weekend starts of the campaign. The right-handed hurler managed to work through five complete innings in 12 starts and through six in seven. The junior tossed a season-high eight innings at Alabama to begin conference play in March and worked into the eighth inning in starts at Auburn and against Missouri.

With the opener mixed with long-relief strategy Tennessee employed for much of the year in the weekend rotation for games one and three, Beam was vital on the second day to give the Vols extended innings. He did just that by tossing a team-high 80.1 frames with a 3.59 ERA and an 8-2 record. Beam struck out 71 batters throughout the regular season while walking only 19.

The pitcher was named to the SEC Spring Academic Honor Roll as both a freshman and sophomore and was named CSC Academic All-District last summer.

Tennessee concluded the 2024 regular season with a 46-10 overall record and 22-8 tally in conference play. The Vols won their last nine conference series in-a-row and have only lost games in back-to-back fashion one time this season, back on March 16-17 at Alabama.

Top-seeded UT will await the winner of Tuesday’s (8) Vanderbilt and (9) Florida bout and begin its journey through the SEC Tournament on Wednesday at 5:30 pm eastern time.

2023 All-SEC Teams

2024 SEC Baseball Awards
Player of the Year: Charlie Condon, Georgia
Pitcher of the Year: Hagen Smith, Arkansas
Freshman of the Year: Gavin Grahovac, Texas A&M
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Drew Beam, Tennessee
Coach of the Year: Nick Mingione, Kentucky

First Team All-SEC

C: Jackson Appel, Texas A&M
1B: Jac Caglianone, Florida
2B: Christian Moore, Tennessee
3B: Charlie Condon, Georgia
SS: Justin Lebron, Alabama*
SS: David Mershon, Mississippi State*
OF: Braden Montgomery, Texas A&M
OF: Jace LaViolette, Texas A&M
OF: Dylan Dreiling, Tennessee
SP: Hagen Smith, Arkansas
SP: Khal Stephen, Mississippi State
RP: Evan Aschenbeck, Texas A&M
DH/UT: Ike Irish, Auburn*
DH/UT: Nick Lopez, Kentucky*

Second Team All-SEC

C: Cole Messina, South Carolina
1B: Blake Burke, Tennessee
2B: Peyton Stovall, Arkansas
3B: Tommy White, LSU
SS: Wehiwa Aloy, Arkansas
OF: Kavares Tears, Tennessee
OF: Ryan Waldschmidt, Kentucky
OF: Dakota Jordan, Mississippi State
SP: Ryan Prager, Texas A&M
SP: Luke Holman, LSU
RP: Griffin Herring, LSU
DH/UT: Andrew Fischer, Ole Miss

Freshman All-SEC Team

Gavin Grahovac, Texas A&M
Gabe Gaeckle, Arkansas
Justin Lebron, Alabama
Dean Curley, Tennessee
Tre Phelps, Georgia
Caden Sorrell, Texas A&M
Zane Adams, Alabama
Steven Milam, LSU
Ashton Larson, LSU
Cade Belyeu, Auburn
Liam Peterson, Florida
Nolan Souza, Arkansas

SEC All-Defensive Team

C: Fernando Gonzalez, Georgia
1B: Blake Burke, Tennessee
2B: Emilien Pitre, Kentucky
3B: Jared Sprague-Lott, Arkansas*
3B: Mitchell Daly, Kentucky*
SS: Justin Lebron, Alabama
OF: Braden Montgomery, Texas A&M
OF: Kavares Tears, Tennessee
OF: Peyton Holt, Arkansas*
OF: Jace LaViolette, Texas A&M
P: Mason Moore, Kentucky