The Team of the Week is D3baseball.com's weekly honor roll, in its tenth 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 2021 season.
Games of March 15-21, 2021
C Matt Malcom, Jr. Eastern Connecticut State
Malcolm batting .500 (3-for-6) with two homers, four runs scored and three batted in as the Warriors swept a non-conference doubleheader against Saint Joseph’s (Maine) Saturday. The junior delivered what proved to be the game-winning solo homer to lead off three top of the eighth in Eastern Connecticut’s 5-4 game-one triumph. He added a two-run blast in the Warriors’ 11-3 game-two victory. Malcolm slugged 1.500 over the two games while fielding all 18 chances behind the dish and throwing out the only runner attempting to steal a base in the series.
1B Dane Pedersen, Sr., Louisiana College
Pedersen lit up Sul Ross St. pitching over the weekend to the tune of three home runs, two doubles, a 1.357 slugging percentage, a .600 on base percentage. Batting .571 (8-for-14) he knocked in 14 runs and scored five times himself.
2B Tim Van Kirk, Jr., Washington (Mo.)
Van Kirk batted .600 (6-for-10) over the week for the Bears. He score four runs and drove in two with four stolen bases on four attempts. With a double, he slugged .700 as he got on base at a .692 clip.
SS Seth Betts, Sr., Crown (Minn.)
Betts hit three home runs in a doubleheader against Concordia-Moorhead, along with a double for a 2.333 slugging percentage. He batted .667 (4-for-6) with three runs scored and four RBIs. He also closed a one-run lead for a Storm win in game two, allowing no hits or walks.
3B Seth Johnson, Jr., Thiel
Johnson reached base five times in two of his three games played this week and finished the week with an .800 on-base percentage. Johnson batted .727 (8-for-11) with one double (.818 slugging). He scored five runs and drove in four.
OF Brent Beals, Sr., Millikin
Beals batted .583 (7-for-12) as Millikin went 3-0 over the week. His inside the park grand slam in Millikin's 12-5 win over North Park was on of five extra-base hits (four doubles) as he slugged 1.250. He score three times and drove in seven. Beals picked up a save in Sunday's 4-3 Big Blue win.
OF Jon Fleck, Sr., Centenary (N.J.)
Fleck played a key role in the Cyclones starting conference play 2-0 for the first time since 2012. All four of Fleck's base hits in his six at-bats went for extra bases as he had a double and a triple in game one and a pair of doubles in game two. He slashed .667/.700/1.500 for the week as he scored four and drove in six.
OF Noah Sacco, Sr., Simpson
Sacco went 9-for-14 (.643) in a four-game series at Buena Vista, reaching safely in 15 of 20 plate appearances. Seven of nine hits went for extra bases (four doubles and three home runs) for a 1.571 slugging. He was responsible for 14 runs, scoring six and driving in eight.
OF Bret Williams, Sr., Penn St.-Harrisburg
Williams opened the 2021 season with a bang, leading Penn State Harrisburg to a pair of victories over Susquehanna on Sunday afternoon. Across the two games, the Mount Carmel, Pa. native slashed .500/.556/1.375 and racked up nine RBIs on four hits including a pair of home runs and a double to go along with two runs, a walk.
DH Jack Hollinshead, Sr., Wittenberg
Hollinshead went 6-for-8 on the day, logging a slash line of .750/.800/2.000 in two wins over Hiram on Sunday afternoon. Hitting in the DH spot, Hollinshead launched three home runs in the 22-4 win in game one, including a grand slam for six RBIs. The senior added two singles and a double to his tally in the 15-5 win in game two.
SP Tad Dean, So., Shenandoah
Dean was dominant in his lone start of the week against Emory & Henry. He allowed two hits in a nine inning complete game win, striking out seven.
SP TJ Deardorff, Sr., Coe
Deardorff earned his first victory on the mound Saturday for the Kohawks in dominant fashion at Central. The senior right-hander pitched a one-hit shutout while tossing all seven innings in the opening game of day two.
SP Kyle Roche, Jr., Franklin & Marshall
Roche for turned in another strong starting performance to help Franklin & Marshall sweep No. 10 Johns Hopkins in the season-opening doubleheader for the Diplomats. Roche struck out nine batters over six innings. He did not walk a batter and allowed just two hits in a 2-1 victory.
RP Mason Carnes, So., Berry
Carnes appeared in 3-4 games this weekend, earning his first win of the season and his fourth and fifth save. In game one, he came in for relief pitching 1.2 innings, giving up just one hit and zero runs. In games two and three, he pitched one inning and gave up zero hits and zero runs.
RP Clayton Dwyer, Sr., Salisbury
After a shutdown appearance on March 17 at No. 12 Randolph-Macon, Dwyer put in heavy work on back-to-back days over the March 20-21 weekend. On Saturday against No. 9 Rowan he fanned five and gave up just an unearned run over a three-inning hold to help Salisbury hang on to win 4-3. The next day against TCNJ, he nailed down a three-inning save, striking out five more batters. Dwyer finished the week with just an unearned run against in 7.1 innings with 13 strikeouts, good for a 15.95 K/9 rate.
RP Logan Martin, So., Sewanee
Martin pitched six innings of no-hit ball in relief as he and Jake Pendergraft combined for a no-hitter in Friday's 2-0 victory over Covenant in Sewanee's first contest in over a year. Entering the game in the fourth inning, Martin struck out nine batters of the 22 he faced. After allowing a lead-off walk in the top of the seventh, Martin retired the last nine batters he faced, including striking out the side in the eighth.