The Team of the Week is D3baseball.com's weekly honor roll, in its fifth 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 2016 season.
Games of February 1-14, 2016
C Jo Stickney, Jr., Ferrum
Stickney was behind the plate for three of the Panther's first four games. He batted .667, 4-for-6, with four RBI.Stickney walked twice and ended up with a .750 OBP. He played his position without an error in 25 chances.
1B Matthew Nelson, Jr., Whitworth
Nelson helped lead the Whitworth Pirates to their best start in program history (8-0). He is batting .455 (15-for-33) with a .581 on-base percentage and an .879 slugging percentage. He leads the team in runs scored (14), RBI (11) and walks (9). He has at least one hit in each game this season, including five multi-hit games. Ten of his 15 hits have been extra-base hits (seven doubles, two triples, one home run).
2B Cody Cain, Sr., Howard Payne
Cain started the season with three multi-hit games, batting .583 (7-for-12). Scoring at least one run in each game, Cain ended up with four runs scored and four RBI. With one extra base hit, a double, he slugged .667.
SS Chris McCarren, So., Caltech
McCarren sizzled in the Beavers' 2016 debut. With a double among five hits in seven at-bats (.714), he scored once and drove in three as Caltech opened with a split of La Sierra.
3B Brandon George, Sr., Texas-Dallas
Comet senior George opened the 2016 season by hitting .500 with two extra-base hits and seven RBI in a 3-0 start for Texas-Dallas. George was 6-for-12 from the plate with a homer and a double as he sparked Texas-Dallas to wins over Chapman, Cal Lutheran and Hendrix. George scored four runs, drove in seven, and drew three walks over the three-game span.
OF Josh Covey, So., Texas-Dallas
Covey kicked off the season by hitting .692 with six runs scored in Texas-Dallas' three wins at the Rusty Greer/Jackie Moore Classic in Grand Prairie, Texas. Covey collected three hits in all three games as he went 9-for-13 from the plate with two RBI and a walk. He was a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen bases.
OF Luke Harvey, Jr., Covenant
Harvey helped Covenant to a 5-0 with a .588/.632/.708 slash line. He totaled seven runs, four RBIs, two doubles and three stolen bases. Harvey, with 10 hits in 17 at-bats, has four multi-hit games already this season.
OF Finn McMichael, Sr., Linfield
McMichael hit a team-best .588 (10-for-17) over four games at the Arizona Desert Classic, supplying a double, triple and home run among his 10 hits. As Linfield's leadoff man, he posted a .632 on-base percentage, .941 slugging percentage, had three multiple-hit games, scored six times and rang up 16 total bases. He was also defensively perfect in center field.
DH Brian Hernandez, Jr., Emory
Hernandez hit a sizzling .647 (11-for-17) over the weekend as No. 3 Emory went 3-1 at the Central Texas Tournament. Hernandez collected at least two hits in all four contests and led the Eagles in hits, doubles (2), HR (1), RBI (7), total bases (16), batting avg., slugging (.941) and on-base percentage (.632).
SP Holden Novak, Sr., Centenary (La.)
The Gents number one started has started off the season with a pair of wins, including against No. 22 Texas-Tyler. His first start of the season was against rival Louisiana College. He threw seven innings for the complete-game win. He only allowed three hits while striking out 10, including carrying a no hitter into the fifth. He followed that up against UT Tyler with six strikeouts in five innings of work.
SP Jonah Paul, Sr., Covenant
Paul allowed just one run on six hits in two starts spanning 14 innings (0.64 ERA). The senior right-hander tossed a three-hit, complete-game shutout with nine strikeouts in a 5-0 victory over Emory & Henry on Saturday, Feb. 13 that concluded a three-game sweep. In his first start at Greensboro (Feb. 6), he allowed one run on three hits in five innings of work to pick up the win.
SP Colton Spears, Sr., Hardin-Simmons
Spears tossed a gem for the Cowboys in a three-hit complete-game shutout over Hendrix. He allowed only three singles and a walk in the game and no runner advanced past second base. He only had 92 pitches in the game.
RP Josh Thomas, Sr., Piedmont
Thomas picked up four saves in team's first four wins. Thomas recorded seven strikeouts in 5.2 innings. He allowed five hits and a walk over his four appearances.