D3baseball.com Team of the Week

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 third Team of the Week of the 2019 season.

Games of February 18-24, 2019

C  Cole Pursell, Jr., Willamette

Pursell hit .538 during the week (7-for-13) with three doubles, two home runs, three runs scored and five RBIs as Willamette went 2-1 at Puget Sound. He also walked twice, was hit by a pitch and went 1-for-1 on stolen bases.

1B  Ryan Serrato, Sr., Southern Vermont

Serrato had an amazing start to the season over the weekend against SUNY Maritime. Serrato posted an .833 batting average (5-for-6) with a 1.667 slugging percentage for the week with 10 total bases. He scored twice and drove in three.

2B  Joe Norton, Jr., Montclair State

Norton had a solid opening day for the Red Hawks as Montclair State slugged its way to a pair of wins over Scranton and No. 11 Misericordia. Norton went 6-for-9 (.667) with six runs scored, four extra-base hits and five RBIs. He slugged 1.444 in the two games and had an on-base percentage of .750. 

SS  Wes Powell, Jr., Huntingdon

Powell batted .600 (6-for-10) with three RBIs and two runs scores. With three doubles, he slugged .900 in three games as Huntingdon stayed unbeaten this season.

3B  Alex Kidwiler, Jr., Stevenson

Kidwiler went 4-for-7 (.571) with two home runs and two doubles in a pair of victories against Gallaudet and Marymount on Friday. He had a .667 OBP and 1.714 slugging percentage for the week.

OF  Connor Bailey, Sr., Willamette

Bailey batted .583 (7-for-12) during the week with a 1.333 slugging percentage and a .625 on-base percentage. He scored eight runs and earned six RBIs. He belted four extra-base hit (double, triple and two home runs. He also walked 3 times with no strikeouts and was 3-for-3 on stolen bases on offense, and made 7 putouts with no errors on defense.

OF  Tre D’Amico, So., Frostburg State

D'Amico was 7-of-10 (.700) in three wins over the weekend. He had six hits, eight runs scored, three doubles, ten RBIs. He had three extra-base hits, a double and two home runs.

OF  Nick White, Sr., DeSales

White led the Bulldogs to a season-opening series split with Bridgewater, batting .714 (5-for-7) and slugging 1.429 with two doubles, a home run and two walks. White tallied five RBIs and three runs scored.

DH  Zachary Marzano, So., Kean

Marzano helped Kean to a 3-1 week including a win over #11 Misericorida. He batted .563 (9-for-16) with seven RBIs, two runs, four walks, and two extra base hits (a double and triple).

SP Blake Benson, Fr., Ozarks (Ark.)

Benson spun a complete game shutout in his first collegiate start. Benson went eight innings, fanned eight and scattered five hits in a 10-0 win. It was the first shutout for the Eagles since 2016.

SP  Ryan Boyer, Sr., Pitt.-Bradford

Boyer was purely dominant in his opening day start, coming one out away from a perfect game Saturday. He struck out 16 batters in a seven-inning complete game to pick up the win at Wells and didn't walk anyone. The lone hit against him was a home run, serving as his only surrendered run. The 16 strikeouts are the program's most in a single game since 2005.

SP  Keith Long, Jr., Texas-Tyler

Long pitched the first no-hitter of the season as Texas-Tyler defeated Mary Hardin-Baylor 3-0. Long finished the day with 11 strikeouts in his seven innings of work. He was responsible for just one baserunner on a walk while two others reached base via errors during the game.

RP  Chris Cramer, So., Brockport

Cramer had his number called on Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader against Baldwin Wallace. Cramer took the mound in the eighth inning with the score tied 1-1 and needed just 37 pitches to get through his 3.0 innings of work where he gave up one hit, no runs and walked one, while striking out three batters. After Brockport grabbed the lead in the top of the 10th, Cramer came back out to earn the win for the Golden Eagles.