The Team of the Week is D3baseball.com's weekly honor roll, in its inaugural season of recognizing the top performance at each of thirteen positions from the previous week. Players are selected from nominations from their school's sports information directors. This is the ninth Team of the Week of the 2012 season.
Games of April 23-29, 2012
C Jared Welch, So., Emory
Welch led all Emory players in runs scored, batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage during the week. Welch set school records for runners caught stealing in a season (18) and a career (36) on Saturday in a game against Oglethorpe.
1B Geoff Kimmel, Sr., Wesley
Kimmel, the CAC Player of the Week, batted .667 (12-for-18) with seven RBI including a 4-hit, 4 RBI game in a win over N. 21 Shenandoah on the road.
2B Matt Keller, Sr., Ithaca
Keller, the Empire 8 Player of the Week, batted .643 (9-for-14) He had five doubles on the week, uping his season total to 18 doubles, tying Ithaca's school record.
SS Tim Saunders, Sr., Marietta
Saunders was named OAC Hitter of the Week after going 17-of-25 for a .680 batting average. He had multiple hits in all five games last week including a 5-for-6 performance with two home runs at Muskingum.
3B Matt Prescia, Jr., New Paltz St.
Matt Prescia batted .857 (6-for-7) against No. 7 SUNY Cortland over the weekend, helping the Hawks offensively in two close losses.
OF Sean Osterman, Jr., St. John Fisher
Osterman hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Cardinals rallied against Utica. Osterman, was 5-for-6 in the next game with six RBI, giving him 10 RBI in just nine innings played on Sunday afternoon.
OF Al Posch, So., Gettysburg
Posch hit .480 (12-for-25), scored seven runs, and drove in six runs while setting the school record for single-season hits in a 4-1 week for Gettysburg.
OF Nick Tasaka, Jr., Pacific (Ore.)
Tasaka went 4-for-6 with three runs, two doubles and three RBI. in a three game sweep of Pacific Lutheran. He drew nine walks, d anamassed a 1.000 slugging percentage and an .867 on base percentage to go along with a pair of stolen bases.
DH Adam Cordova, Jr., UW-La Crosse
Cordova hit .417 (10-of-24) with five runs, four doubles, one home run and seven RBI in six games last week. He also had two walks and 17 total bases. Cordova had at least one hit in all six contests and is currently on a seven-game hitting streak.
SP Brendan Nugent, So., Western New England
Nugent defeated Gordon 6-0 in a seven inning complete game. He allowed three hits, no walks and struckout seven.
SP Jason Beaumont, Sr., St. John Fisher
For the second-straight outing, Beaumont shutout an Empire 8 Conference foe. He allowed five hits in and struckout eight Pioneers. This comes after throwing a complete-game shutout against Ithaca College last weekend in which he only gave up two hits.
SP Byron Minnich, Sr., Cal Lutheran
Byron Minnich threw a two-hit complete game shutout against the regular season SCIAC champions La Verne. The senior picked up his first career complete game shutout in the final start of his collegiate career. He threw 113 pitches and struck out seven Leopards in the victory.
RP Jared Van Hoon, Sr., Pacific (Ore.)
Van Hoon had two key pitching performances that helped Pacific clinch their first NWC pennant in 33 years. In the first game, he allowed just two hits and struck out run in five innings, his longest ever collegiate pitching outing. He entered in the seventh inning on Sunday to earn his fourth save, helping clinch the title in the Boxers' 9-5 win.