The Team of the Week is D3baseball.com's weekly honor roll, in its third season of recognizing the top performers at each of nine positions from the previous week. Players are selected from nominations from their school's sports information directors. This is the first Team of the Week of the 2014 season.
Games of February 1-16, 2014
C Josh Rapacz, Sr., George Fox
After batting .533 (8-for-15) in four games in the Arizona Desert Classic, Rapacz hit .667 (8-for-12) this past week in the Cavalier Classic at Concordia (Ore.). He has hit in every game for the 6-1 Bruins, with five multi-hit games. In a 4-0 win over College of Idaho, he became one of less than a dozen players who have homered at Concordia's spacious Porter Park since it opened in 2011. For the season, he is batting .593 with a .636 on base pct. and .741 slugging pct.
1B Connor Griffith, So., Sul Ross State
Griffith had an outstanding opening stretch, hitting .543 with 19 hits in 35 at bats. He has 14 runs batted in and scored eight times, with six doubles, one triple and a .771 slugging percentage. He led a team effort that saw the Lobos hit .404 as a team and average 11.4 runs per game in their first seven games.
2B Justin Genter, Jr., Rhodes
Genter batted .500 for the week going 8-for-16. Genter added three walks to start the season with a .579 on-base percentage. He scored five runs and had two RBI. Genter was flawless in the field with no errors in 20 chances.
SS Jimmy Norris, So., Texas-Dallas
Norris, a transfer from McMurry, made an impressive debut with the Comets, going 9-for-13 (.692) as Texas-Dallas went 3-0 over the weekend at Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco, Texas. Norris scored seven times, knocking in two more runs.
3B Ryan Cook, So., Chapman
Cook went .438 (7-for-16) in the Panthers'opening week of play. Cook stayed hot in the next week of play, raising his average to .440 (11-for-25) with four hits in two games with SCIAC rival Occidental. Cook has eight RBI and five runs scored to go along with four extra-base hits (a double, two triples and a home run).
OF Evan Gresham, So., Piedmont
Gresham had a quick start to the season. Gresham is batting .529 (9-for-17) through the first two weeks of the season. He has driven in six and score eight in addition to playing flawlessly in the outfield.
OF Brett Lake, Jr., Emory
Lake was instumental in Emory's 3-1 trip to California to start the season. Lake finished the first two weeks batting .548 (17-for-31) with 11 RBI and 8 runs scored. Lake's five doubles on the season leads the nation.
OF Tyler Pfeffer, Sr., Whitworth
Pfeffer has hit safely in all four games for the Whitworth Pirates, starting the season batting .471 (8-for-17) and slugging .765 (13 total bases). Pfeffer leads Whitworth in runs (5), hits (8), home runs (1), and RBI (7).
DH Bay Liskey, So., Bridgewater (Va.)
Liskey hit .625 in the Eagles' season-opening sweep at N.C. Wesleyan. In game one, Liskey went 3-for-5 with two doubles, two runs scored, a RBI and a stolen base to help Bridgewater to an 8-1 win. In Bridgewater's 5-3 victory in game two, Liskey went 2-for-3 with two more runs scored. He also smacked his first homer of the season.
SP Jake Perkins, So., Ferrum
Perkins could not start the seaon any better. The Ferrum sophomore no-hit Southern Virginia, striking out 16 of the 23 batters he faced in the 3-0 win. Perkins was not as dominant in his second start, taking the loss to Hampden-Sydney.
SP Blake Stevens, Jr., Birmingham-Southern
Stevens, a junior right-hander, started the Panthers' season opener against LaGrange and went seven scoreless innings, giving up only two hits with nine strikeouts to help Birmingham-Southern defeat LaGrange in 10 innings.
SP Tom Zarosinski, Jr., George Fox
In Zarosinski's first two starts, a 12-1 win over Redlands and a 4-0 win over College of Idaho, he threw 15.0 innings with 16 strikeouts and only one walk while holding opponents to a .115 batting average. He shut out College of Idaho on two hits over eight innings, with eight K's and no walks, before the bullpen took over in the ninth inning.
RP Matt Jepsen, Fr., Willamette
Jepsen earned two wins for the Bearcats, all in relief. Jepsen pitched seven innings of two-hit ball to earn his first win in a Willamette uniform. He was called upon again for long relief agains Lewis and Clark. Jepsen pitcher four innings and was the pitcher of record in a 7-2 comeback win. Jepsen struck out seven in his 11 innings.