The Team of the Week is D3baseball.com's weekly honor roll, in its eighth 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 fourth Team of the Week of the 2019 season.
Games of February 25-March 3, 2019
C Gunner Rainey, Jr., Adrian
After two years as the starting left fielder, for Adrian, Rainey opened the season behind the plate. He went 4-for-8 (.500) with two doubles, three runs and two RBIs during the team's 1-1 season-opening split in Birmingham, Ala. He did not commit an error in 16 total chances.
1B Tyler Wise, Sr., Birmingham Southern
Wise batted .643 in three wins over the weekend. He was 9-of-14 from the plate, hitting two doubles and a triple with seven RBIs and two runs scored. In his 14 at-bats, Wise struck out just one time.
2B Ben Brittain, Sr., Wheaton (Ill.)
Brittain was 5-for-7 (.714) in two games for the Thunder. He had scored a run and drove in one. He hit a double to bring his slugging percentage to .857.
SS Matthew McCourt, Sr., Mt. Aloysius
McCourt slashed .500/.571/1.667 in the season opening doubleheader for the Mounties. He went 2-3 in the game one victory, hitting two long home runs and adding an RBI ground out. The second home run came in the top of the 7th to give the Mounties the win. He collected 10 total bases on the day.
3B Tanner Wright, So., Cal Lutheran
Wright notched his second consecutive 3-for-4 game in the Kingsmen's 4-2 upset over No. 5 Texas Lutheran.
OF Matthew Blaise, Sr., Randolph-Macon
Blaise had eight plate appearances and reached base seven times out of the 9-hole with a home run and 6 walks. He batted .500 (1-for-2) with a 2.000 slugging percentage. Blaise scored twice with two RBIs.
OF Anthony Crowley, Sr., Westfield State
Crowley started the year with a 2-for-3 day (.667) with a pair of doubles, one RBI and a stolen base in a 6-5 Owls win over Western New England.
OF Jaylon Lee, So., Eastern Mennonite
Lee continues his torrid start to 2019, batting .444 (8-for-18) and accounting for 18 runs in EMU's five games last week. Six of his hits went for extra bases, giving him a 1.056 slugging percentage. Lee hit a pair of home runs, and had three or more RBIs in threeof the games. For the week, Lee had 11 RBIs and scored seven times. He also walked three times and stole a base, and added a perfect fielding percentage on 11 chances in center field.
DH Korey Mazur, Sr., Adrian
In the first two starts of his four-year career, led Adrian with in batting average (.625), on-base percentage (.667) and slugging percentage (.750) to help the Bulldogs to a 1-1 on their season-opening weekend. In a 15-2 upset of No. 21 Wisconsin-Oshkosh, he posted career highs of four hits, three runs scored and three runs batted in.
SP Luke Buehler, Jr., Rose-Hulman
Buehler pitched nine shutout innings with 13 strikeouts in 2 appearances during Rose-Hulman's Florida Spring Trip. In a 1-0 win over Alma, Buehler allowed just two hits with nine strikeouts in seven scoreless innings as the Fightin' Engineers won on Opening Day. Buehler added two scoreless innings with four strikeouts against Penn State-Abington out of the bullpen. For the week, Buehler held opponents to just a .103 batting average.
SP Jake Cook, Sr., Birmingham Southern
Cook pitched seven strong innings in a 4-0 shutout win over Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Friday night. Cook faced 25 batters, allowing just four hits while striking out eight and walking none.
SP Michael McCraith, Sr., Wheaton (Ill.)
McCraith as dominant in Wheaton's season opener, a 3-1 victory at Covenant as the winning pitcher in a contest that snapped the Scots' seven-game winning streak. McCraith struck out a career-high 15 batters, the most by a Thunder pitcher since Trey Martin struck out 15 batters on April 19, 2014. He threw 3.1 innings of no-hit baseball and allowed just one hit in his seven innings of scoreless work.
RP Scott Kutschke, Jr., Case Western Reserve
Kutschke pitched flawless baseball on Saturday to help lead the Spartans to an 11-4 win over Allegheny. Kutschke entered the game with two on and two outs in the first inning, and proceeded to induce an inning-ending groundout on his first pitch of the contest. He proceeded to retire the next nine batters he faced in the game in order, picking up the victory in the game. Kutschke finished the game with four strikeouts over 3.1 perfect innings of work.