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 twelfth Team of the Week of the 2019 season.
Games of April 22-28, 2019
C Anthony DiPrizio, Sr., Saint Joseph's (Me.)
DiPrizio hit .455 (5-for-11) with four runs, a home run, and four RBIs in a 2-1 week for the Monks. Perfect behind the plate, he slugged .727.
1B Nicholas Baham, Sr., Christopher Newport
Baham had a monster week at the dish for the Captains, hitting .500 (8-for-16) while slugging 1.688 (double, six home runs). This week, Baham drove in 10 runs and scored nine times. he also delivered a pair of sacrifice flies and was perfect in 30 chances defensively.
2B Nathan Kessler, Sr., Hood
Kessler, was impressive at the plate in a 2-2 week where the Blazers locked up the No. 1 seed in the MAC Commonwealth Championship. Kessler batted .800 (8-for-10) and slugged 1.000 with two doubles, four walks and two hit-by-pitches (for an .875 on-base percentage). He also recorded five stolen bases to become the first Blazer to recorded 50 career steals.
SS Nick DiNapoli, Sr., Christopher Newport
DiNapoli hit .500 on the week (7-for-14) for the second-ranked Captains, including two home runs and two doubles. He scored five and drove in four. DiNapoli was perfect defensively in 16 chances while also involved in four double plays.
3B JP Knight, Jr., Tufts
Knight was .571 (4-for-7) with all four hits going for extra bases (two doubles and two home runs) for a 1.714 slugging percentage. He scored three and drove in seven. With Tufts down to its last strike in the ninth inning at Trinity on Saturday, Knight hit a grand slam to give the Jumbos a 9-6 lead which stood as the final.
OF Colin BeVard, Jr., Cortland
BeVard hit four home runs, including an amazing three inside-the-park homers, in Cortland's three-game series sweep of Brockport during the Red Dragons' lone three games of the week. He finished the series batting .538 (7-for-13) with four homers, a triple, two steals, seven RBI and seven runs. He had a 1.615 slugging percentage (21 total bases in 13 at-bats). Two of his three inside-the-park homers came in the same inning - a nine-run third frame on the way to an 11-4 win in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader.
OF Connor Brandon, Sr., Concordia Chicago
Brandon slashed .636/.704/1.136 on the week. He recorded 14 hits in 22 at-bats in the six games with three doubles, a triple and two homers. He drove in a school record 19 runs on the week. He also scored eight runs.
OF Nick Herzog, Sr., Mass.-Boston
Herzog had another team-leading week as the Beacons went 3-0. He recorded 12 hits in 18 at-bats (.667) and had eight runs scored, one triple, three home runs, 10 RBIs, one walk, and one stolen base Herzog finished with a slugging percentage of 1.278.
OF Antony Mantova, Jr., St. John Fisher
Mantova was 9-for-12 (.750) on the week with a double, two triples, seven RBIs and five runs scored. He slugged 1.167 overall and had three steals in three attempts.
DH Joey Stock, Jr., Saint John's (Minn.)
Stock continued his hot hitting, make the Team of the Week for two consecutive weeks at DH. Stock went 4-for-7 (.571) with two home runs, four runs batted in - three coming with two outs - and three runs scored as Saint John's swept St. Thomas for the second consecutive season.
SP Connor Hewlette, So., Roger Williams
Hewlette the game's first 18 batters and fired a one-hit shutout against CCC rival Wentworth in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. Hewlette did not walk a single batter and struck out five over seven innings in an 11-0 victory. He was perfect through six innings before hitting a batter and surrendering a single to open the seventh, before a double play ball and a second ground out ended the game.
SP Nate Luscombe, Sr., Hood
Luscombe pitched seven innings of one-hit baseball, while not allowing a run in a 4-2 win over Widener on Senior Day. Luscombe was perfect for six innings before allowing a single in his final inning of work. The senior struck out five batters and did not walk a batter. He retired the first 18 batters he faced, with only two balls leaving the infield.
SP Matt O'Sullivan, So., UW-Whitewater
O'Sullivan tossed the seventh no-hitter in program history and first since 2010 on Tuesday in the No. 18 Warhawks' 12-0 victory against UW-Platteville in Dubuque, Iowa. He recorded nine strikeouts during the performance and was perfect through 5.2 innings until allowing a two-out walk in the bottom of the sixth inning. O'Sullivan needed only 75 pitches to record the 21 outs in the run-rule shortened contest.
RP Jamie Hauswirth, Fy., Hamilton
Jamie Hauswirth pitched five scoreless innings in two appearances. He tossed three perfect innings in relief in a 2-0 setback against Williams on Sunday. He started and pitched two innings in a 11-10 win against St. Lawrence. He struck out a batter and hit another against the Saints. The hit batsman was the only runner he allowed to reach base all week.