The Team of the Week is D3baseball.com's weekly honor roll, honoring performers at each position from the previous week. Players are selected from nominations from their school's sports information directors. This is the fifth Team of the Week of the 2017 season.
Games of March 6-12, 2017
C Justin Teague, Jr., Cortland State
Teague batted .545 (6-for-11) with a homer, triple, double, two walks, six RBI and seven runs scored in three appearances for the Red Dragons. He committed no errors in 24 chances.
1B Kyle Bouchard, Fr., Nichols
Bouchard finished the week having had four hits and at least three RBIs in each of the Bison's four games. He batted .800 (16-for-20) with two runs and 13 RBIs. With five doubles, Bouchard slugged 1.050.
2B Ryan Burciaga, So., Texas-Dallas
Burciaga finished a 3-1 week for the Comets by going 11-for-22 (.500) at the plate with seven runs scored and 12 RBIs. He slugged .864 (five doubles, home run). Burciaga handled 14 chances without an error.
SS Nick Comei, Sr., WPI
Comei had an outstanding week for the Engineers, hitting .563 (18-for-32) with a home run, two doubles, two walks, a sacrifice bunt, four stolen bases and 11 RBI. He also posted a slugging percentage of .719 and an OPS of 1.319. Comei only made one error in 44 chances and was part of seven double plays.
3B Taylor Black, Sr., St. Joseph's (Maine)
Black hit .625 (15-24) with a .630 OBP and a 1.000 slugging percentage with eight runs, five doubles, two triples, and 11 RBIs in six games for the Monks last week. The senior captain had at least two hits in every game, including three-hit efforts in three different contests, and played flawless defense with no errors in 18 chances at the hot corner.
OF Brian Carney, Sr., Oberlin
Carney helped the Yeomen get off to a perfect 4-0 start as they swept Berea and Calvin. He drove in nine runs, scored three with eight hits in 13 at-bats (.615). Carney, who had three multi-games during the stretch, also drew two walks for an on-base percentage of .667.
OF Evan Delaney, So., New England College
Delaney batted .600 (9-for-15) and slugged a 1.276 during NEC's six-game spring break trip. He hit safely in four of the six games with three doubles, two triples, and one home run with five RBIs, five runs, and two stolen bases.
OF Justin Erby, Sr., Virginia Wesleyan
Erby batted .583 (7-for-12) over the last week, connecting on two home runs, scoring six runs, and driving in seven more. He set career bests in home runs (2), runs (5), and RBI (5) in a 13-0 victory over Eastern Mennonite on Saturday.
DH Alec Willey, So., Gordon
In four games, Willey batted .400 (6-for-15) as Gordon split two doubleheaders on consecutive games to open the season. Willey hit two home runs to bring his slugging percentage to .800. He score six and drove in six on the week.
SP Colin Brown, Jr., Hendrix
Brown threw a 13-strikeout, two-hit shutout in a seven-inning 4-0 win over Central College Friday night. Brown only allowed a pair of infield singles and a walk while tying for the sixth most strikeouts in school history.
SP Cason Cunningham, So., Linfield Cunningham was nearly untouchable in a complete-game victory against Puget Sound, registering a career-high 15 strikeouts, the most of any Northwest Conference pitcher in a single game this year, while yielding just five hits in Linfield's 7-2 win. The former Marine retired 15 straight though the middle innings, threw just the second complete game of his career and improved to 2-0 on the season.
SP Bobby Grigas, Fr., Susquehanna
Grigas pitched eight innings against No. 18 Marietta as the Crusaders shutout the Pioneers 10-0. He allowed three hits and no walks with seven strikeouts as he moved to 2-0 on the season.
SP Kaleb Kirk, Jr., Centenary (La.)
Kirk improved his record to 4-1 on the year with a stellar outing in Centenary's run-ruled, 12-0 win against Austin on Friday night. He had 13 strikeouts in 6.2 innings, the most by a SCAC pitcher in a game in two years. He only allowed two hits and three walks, with only one Austin College player getting as close as 90-feet from home.
RP Josh Partridge, Jr. St. Joseph's (Maine)
Partridge made three appearances out of the bullpen last week and posted a 0.00 ERA with nine strikeouts while allowing three hits and no walks in 8.2 innings of work. The junior lefthander picked up the win with 3.2 innings of scoreless relief versus Rhode Island College on Thursday and earned a save with three scoreless frames in a 5-4 triumph over Salve Regina on Friday.