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 eighth Team of the Week of the 2021 season.
Games of April 12-18, 2021
C Jack Surin, Sr., Benedictine
For the week Surin batted .448 with seven doubles, three home runs, 14 RBIs, 11 runs. He hit safely in all six games extending his hitting streak to 17 games. He was perfect behind the plate, throwing out a third of the runners attempting to steal.
C Gunner Rainey, Sr., Adrian
Rainey paced Adrian's 3-1 week with an impressive performance at the plate that included a .600/.647/.933 slashline and team highs of six runs batted in and five runs scored. He had multiple hits in three of the four games to extend his hitting streak to 19 consecutive games overall. This weekend, he took over the MIAA lead with a .437 batting average and 27 RBI. He also was perfect behind the plate in 26 total chances.
1B Sky Rahill, Jr., Salisbury
Rahill had his fingerprints all over third-ranked Salisbury's 37-run output over their two games during the week. On April 15 against St. Mary's, Rahill went 2-for-3 with a double, home run and three RBIs, with his two-run blast capping a six-run Sea Gull fourth. On April 18 at 15th-ranked Shenandoah, he finished 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. Three of Rahill's five hits went for extra bases, giving him a 2.207 OPS for the week.
2B Kevin Navedo, Sr., Bridgewater (Va.)
Navedo hit for a .500 average (8-for-16) with a 1.063 slugging % and 12 RBIs in four games to help the Eagles to a 4-0 record on the week. Among his eight hits were three doubles and two homers. In a win over Eastern Mennonite, Navedo was 0-for-3 with three RBIs. He was 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs in a win over Ferrum. In a DH sweep over Guilford, Navedo was 5-for-8 with two homers and six RBIs. He also fielded 15 total chances without an error..
SS Alex Lemery, Jr., Marymount (Va.)
Lemery was stellar all week as Marymount picked up three wins over Neumann. The junior slashed .545/.667/1.455 as he dominated Neumann's arms. Lemery finished the week with six hits, 10 RBI, six runs, and three walks. The Fairfax, Virginia, native slugged three home runs and one double to lead the Saints in their trio of wins.
3B Spencer Checkoway, Jr., Bard
In the first-ever meeting between Bard and Ithaca on Sunday, Checkoway went 6-for-7 (.857) with a double, two walks and four runs scored batting out of the No. 2 spot as the Raptors split the twinbill. He walked twice, reaching base at a .889 clip. He came on in relief and struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth of Bard's 14-5 game two victory.
OF Samuel Daly, Sr., Willamette
Daly hit .714 with a 1.571 slugging percentage, 9 runs scored, and 12 RBIs, as Willamette won four games against Whitman. He registered at least two hits and two runs in each game, and finished the weekend with 4 doubles, 1 triple, and 2 home runs in the series. He belted two home runs in the first game and pounded two doubles in the third game. He earned a .688 on-base percentage.
OF Dougie DelaCruz, Jr., Mitchell
DelaCruz batted .571 with three doubles, three homers and a team-high 20 RBI over six conference games last week as the Mariners went 5-1. He hit safely and knocked in runs in all six games and slugged 1.143 for the week. He hit a grand slam and finished with seven RBI in a win over New England College. He then went 9-for-15 with two doubles, two homers, 12 RBI and nine runs scored in a four-game series against Lesley.
OF Maxwell Mims, Fr., Southwestern (Tex.)
Mims drove the Southwestern offense through a 3-2 week, hitting 9-for-17 (.529) with a 1.235 slugging percentage. Mims showcased his power (three home runs), speed (one triple, two stolen bases), and discipline at the plate (four walks). He finished the week with 13 RBIs and six runs scored. He was 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs in the Pirates' win over TLU.
OF Keegan Vercoe, Sr., Northwestern (Minn.)
Vercoe had a .438/.500/1.313 slash line on the week to lead Northwestern to three conference wins. The senior had seven hits with four home runs and a triple. Keegan hit three solo home runs in a single game on Saturday against St. Scholastica. Vercoe drove in eight runs at the plate, and his speed on the basepaths helped him score another five runs and steal three bases. In the field, the senior was perfect with nine put outs in nine total chances.
DH Hunter Yaworski, Jr., Mitchell
Yaworski batted .733 with two doubles, two homers and 15 RBI last week as the Mariners went 5-1 in league play. He swatted both home runs in a win over Lesley and collected a career-high eight RBI in the contest, one shy of the school record.
SP Jordy Allard, Sr., Babson
Allard put together a tremendous start against No. 19 Wheaton on Saturday recording a career-high 10 strikeouts while allowing just a pair of singles over 8.0 shutout innings in No. 9 Babson?s 3-0 victory. He retired 16 of the first 17 batters he faced and didn?t allow a hit until the sixth inning to improve to 3-0 on the year. Going back to March 27, Allard has tossed 19 straight shutout innings.
SP Matt Mulhearn, Sr., Webster
In his lone start of the week against Greenville, a game Webster won 11-0 in eight innings due to the mercy rule, Mulhearn came one batter short of tossing his second no-hitter of the season as he carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning, before allowing a 2-out double to Tanner Gerdes in the bottom of the eighth inning, before ending the game by forcing River Baker to ground out to short to post his seventh win of the season. In his eight inning near-gem, Mulhearn (7-1 on the year) recorded 10 strikeouts and didn't walk a batter in his 88 pitch outing.
SP Michael Vallone, Fr., DePauw
Vallone pitched DePauw's first no-hitter since 2000 and the first complete game, no-hitter since 1980. He faced the minimum 21 Wittenberg batters and allowed just one base runner, a hit batsman in the third inning.
SP Jeb Zolman, Sr., Mary Hardin-Baylor
Zolman pitched a complete-game, seven-inning one-hit shutout in a 5-0 win over McMurry. He struck out 12 and did not walk a batter. The only hit he allowed was a third-inning double and that was also the only base runner he allowed in the game.
RP Kelly Holdren, Sr., Elizabethtown
Holdren finished the week pitching 9 1/3 inning shutout innings, helping the Blue Jays to four victories, including a series win over Catholic. Against Juniata, Holdren pitched 4 1/3 innings, allowing one hit and striking out four. He one-upped that effort in Etown's final game of the weekend against the Cardinals, going five innings and striking out seven while giving up two hits. The Millville, Pa. native leads the Landmark in ERA (0.00), wins (4), and K/9 (12.94) and is second in strikeouts (23).
RP Jack Rosenberg, Fr., Christopher Newport
Rosenberg appeared in three games this week and earned a pair of saves. First came in against No. 7 North Carolina Wesleyan in Wednesday's win and then also faced the Bishops in Friday's wild win. In the first game, he did not earn a save but protected a four-run lead to close out a 5-1 win while striking out three. Then, in game two he locked down an 8-7 victory with two strikeouts in the final frame for his first collegiate save. On Sunday, Rosenberg came out of the pen in the bottom of the 12th against Mary Washington, struck out one and picked up his second save of the week. In total, the Captains' southpaw reliever struck out six in 3.0 innings of work without allowing a run.