After leading Kentucky to its first Southeastern Conference championship in school history, head coach John Cohen and first baseman Ryan Strieby were awarded the SEC’s top honors, it was announced by the league office Tuesday.

Cohen, who led UK from worst-to-first in the conference, was the unanimous choice among the league’s coaches as the SEC Coach of the Year. It is the third conference coach of the year honors for Cohen in his career, having taken home Southland Conference honors in 1998 and 2001.

It is the first time in school history the Kentucky coach has been named the coach of the year. Cohen joins Wildcat women’s basketball coach Mickie DeMoss and volleyball coach Craig Skinner as other UK coaches to earn the honor from the SEC. Both Cohen and DeMoss are in their third year while Skinner is in his first.

Strieby, who leads the conference in RBIs (75), on-base percentage (.474), slugging percentage (.718) and doubles (20) while ranking third in home runs (19) and batting .340, was named the SEC Player of the Year. He is the first Wildcat to win the award and also earned first-team All-SEC honors as the first baseman. He is the first UK player to be named to the first team since 1997.

Also garnering recognition from the league office were junior catcher Sean Coughlin and junior second baseman John Shelby. It is the second straight year Shelby has been named to the second team. He led all SEC middle infielders in home runs with 16 and was one of only two league players with double-figures in homers and stolen bases.

Coughlin led all conference catchers with 16 homers and 52 RBIs. He was also among the league leaders in slugging percentage at .623.

The three players honored marks only the sixth time in school history UK has had as many players recognized. The last came in 1993, the year of Kentucky’s most recent NCAA Tournament appearance.