April 4, 2016

D3baseball.com Team of the Week

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 eighth Team of the Week of the 2016 season.

Games of March 29- April 3, 2016

C  Dakota Cararo, Jr., Adrian

Cararo led Adrian with a slashline of .667/.700/1.333 as the number 8 batter in lineup during a 3-2 week for the Bulldogs. He tripled home a run to spark a three-run rally in the ninth inning for a walk-off 14-13 win over Heidelberg on Wednesday. He hit his first home run of the season with a man aboard in the fifth inning versus Kalamazoo to break up a pitchers' duel, winning 2-0 against the Hornets, who were undefeated in conference coming into the weekend. Cararo also was perfect behind the dish with a 1.000 fielding percentage on 15 total chances, and he threw out two of three runners attempting to steal.

1B  Justin Law, Sr., Texas Lutheran

Law hit .600 (6-for-10) with a slugging percentage of .900 to lead the SCAC first-place Bulldogs to a three-game sweep of University of Dallas. For the week, he had an on-base percentage of .692. Law also played errorless defense in 31 total chances at first, including a short-hop pick-up on a throw from third to end the second game with the Dallas bases loaded.

2B  Tyler Sweeney, Jr., DeSales

Sweeney led the Bulldogs to a 4-1 record last week batting 12-for-17 (.706) with 10 runs scored, six RBIs, three doubles, a triple, and two stolen bases. He opened the week with back-to-back 4-for-4 efforts in wins over Montclair State and Ursinus and finished the week posting 4 hits in 9 at-bats in the three-game series with Wilkes in the three-game set as DSU took two of three from the Colonels.

SS  Andrew Haser, Jr., Hamilton

Haser reached base in eight of 13 plate appearances in a series at No. 23 Amherst as he became the first Continental to ever homer three times in a game, hitting home runs in three consecutive innings in Friday's opener. Haser reached base three times in Saturday's first game as Hamilton won at Amherst for the first time since 2007. He didn't make an error in 25 chances.

3B  Taylor McCracken, Sr., Birmingham Southern

McCracken had a stellar week for No. 6 Birmingham-Southern, helping the Panthers go 3-1 including three conference wins against Rhodes. He went 12-of-19 (.632) at the plate with five doubles and seven RBI, with a .667 on-base percentage and .895 slugging percentage. McCracken also had four stolen bases and was perfect on defense with three putouts and eight assists with no errors. In Sunday's game against Rhodes, he surpassed the 200-hit mark for his career.

OF  Mike Davis, Sr., Salem St.

Davis hit .533 (8-for-15) with three home runs, three doubles, seven runs and five RBIs with a 1.333 slugging percentage. Davis went 3-for-6 with two doubles, a game-tying two-out home run, and three RBI in an 8-8 tie with Brandeis. The senior followed up with a 3-for-4 effort with a double and home run in a loss to Wheaton (Mass.) and went 2-for-3 with a home run and two runs scored in a 6-2 victory over MCLA.

OF Taylor Kohlwey, Sr., UW-La Crosse

Kohlwey hit .500 (10-of-20) in five starts last week while scoring 10 runs with eight RBI. He had two doubles and three home runs while recording a .476 on-base and 1.050 slugging percentage. Kohlwey had at least one hit in all five games, including four multiple-hit contests.

OF  Tim McCoy, Sr., Marietta

McCoy hit safely in all five games last week with three multiple-hit and four multiple-RBI games. He had seven extra-base hits (three doubles, triple, and three home runs for a 1.182 slugging percentage) as he hit .545 (12-for20). McCoy had 13 RBIs with 10 runs scored.

DH  Benjamin Legath, Jr., Mt. Aloysius

Legath had a tremendous week at the plate for the Mounties, as he hit 9-for-15 for a .600 average with two home runs and 9 RBIs. Legath has been on a tear all season for Mount Aloysius as he currently leads the AMCC in several statistical categories.

SP Tanner Moulder, Sr., Belhaven

Moulder flirted with a no hitter in his start against Hardin-Simmons on Friday. The bid was broken with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning. He would finish the frame and go eight shutout innings, allowed the one hit while striking out five. With a one-inning relief appearance against Millsaps on Tuesday, the senior went nine shutout innings on the week, allowed one hit and struck out seven.

SP  Mike Nompleggi, Jr., UW-Whitewater

Nompleggi tossed 6.2 shutout innings Tuesday to pick up the win in UW-Whitewater's 2-1 victory over Castleton (Vt.), a 2015 NCAA qualifier, in the team's final game at the RussMatt Invitational in Central Florida. He allowed just two hits and didn't walk a batter while striking out six in the performance.

SP  Tanner Wilt, Sr., La Roche

Wilt went the distance in a 4-0 win over Mount Aloysius, allowing just three hits and no runs while striking out 10.

RP  Bryan Kopko, So., William Paterson

Kopko had three saves in three relief appearances, throwing a hitless 3.1 innings. With runners on the corners and two outs in the top of the ninth, he came in to record the final out of a 14-11 victory against Staten Island. Kopko struck out one and walked one in 2.0 innings for his fourth save of the season in a 4-3 win at No. 10 Rutgers-Camden. After William Paterson rallied with four runs in the top of the ninth, Kopko pitched the bottom of the inning for his fifth save in an 8-7 victory in the night cap against the Scarlet Raptors.