The Team of the Week is D3baseball.com's weekly honor roll, in its twelfth 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 second Team of the Week of the 2024 season.
Games of February 19-25, 2024
C Lincoln Lubsen, Jr., Christopher Newport
Lubsen powered the Captains' dominant offensive performance against a formidable pair at the D3 Showcase on Friday. He smashed two home runs, a grand slam and a solo shot, to lift the Captains to a couple of wins with nine RBI on the day. He finished the four-game performance hitting a team-high .556 (5-for-9) while slugging 1.333 with an OBP of .688. He walked five times, scored five times, and also was terrific defensively, catching two would-be base stealers.
1B Tyler Johnson, Sr., Hamline
Johnson went 11-for-14 (.786) at the plate with nine runs scored and six runs batted in for the Pipers in a three-game series with Martin Luther. Johnson recorded eight doubles, snagged four stolen bases, and was hit by a pair of pitches to earn an on-base percentage of 0.765 for the weekend.
2B Luke Thomas, Sr., Wittenberg
Thomas hit for a .714 average and .929 slugging percentage in a three-game set at Ferrum, totaling 10 hits in 14 at-bats with three doubles, three RBIs, seven runs scored and two stolen bases.
SS Frankie Ritter, Gr., Shenandoah
Ritter batted .571 (8-for-14) on the week with a 0.786 slugging percentage. He score eight times and drove in three. He was 2-2 in stolen bases, playing his position flawlessly.
SS Justin Reed, Anderson (Ind.)
Reed went 4-for-6 with a double, four RBI and three runs as Anderson split Sunday's doubleheader with Trine. He slashed a line of .667/.625/.833.
3B Chris Cimino, Sr., Bates
Cimino got his season off to a terrific start, going 5-for-8 (.625) at the plate with six walks, two doubles, two runs scored, two RBIs, and a stolen base in the first three games of the season for the Bobcats. He also played errorless defense in the field at the hot corner, recording six assists.
OF Luke Finn, Sr., Texas-Dallas
Finn continued his torrid streak to open the season by hitting .556 (10-for-18) with 13 runs scored, a double, four home runs, six RBI and three stolen bases as the Comets went 3-1 on the week. He recorded at least two hits and three runs in all four games, highlighted by a 4-for-5, two-home run performance in Saturday's 10-4 win at Hardin-Simmons.
OF Tyler Stone, So., Kean
Stone led Kean to a 4-0 week, including a win over No. 11 Misericordia. He led the team batting .636 (7-for-11). Stone was a home run shy of the cycle on Thursday and slugged 1.182 on the week. He scored seven ansd drove in five.
OF Trent Youngblood, Sr., Transylvania
Youngblood was 8-for-14 on the weekend, batting .571 with two doubles, a triple, eight runs and three RBI's. He hit a walkoff home run in the 15-13 win over Roanoke to secure the 3-0 weekend for Transylvania.
DH Jack Halloran, Jr., Emory
Halloran's strong start to the season continued this past weekend in Emory's series against Rose-Hulman. Halloran went 8-for-10 (.800) at the dish while driving in nine runs over three games. The junior designated hitter went yard twice, hit two doubles, and reached base via the walk four times as well over the course of the weekend.
DH Andrew Mazzone, Gr., Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
Mazzone had a monster weekend to help CMS to a four-game sweep of Southwestern (Texas). He batted 10-for-16 (.625) on the weekend with four homers, two doubles and 12 RBI, including 5-for-8 with three homers and 10 RBI in the Saturday doubleheader.
SP Will Henkel, Jr., Washington (Mo.)
Southpaw Henkel tossed another gem this weekend in a 10-1 victory over Coe - Henkel tossed seven scoreless frames and allowed just one hit - Henkel fanned six and only walked one in the win to boost his record to 2-0 on the season
SP Jackson Teer, Jr., Trinity (Tex.)
Teer dominated in his only appearance at this weekend's season-opening series for #22 Trinity (Texas) against Babson, ensuring the Tigers of a three-game sweep to start the year. Teer struck out 14 batters in seven shutout innings, allowing just one hit and one walk among his 24 batters faced in the game. He opened the game by striking out the side in the first two innings, then finished his outing with four strikeouts over the final two innings, and left the game with a 16-0 lead.
SP Wil Wood, Gr., Millsaps
Wood was dominant in pitching a no-hit, seven-inning masterpiece on Friday against Westminster (Mo.). He threw 16 strikeouts against 22 batters in the 1-0 triumph at Twenty Field in Jackson.
RP George Viebrock, Sr., Denison
Viebrock picked up the a three-inning save and held the Salisbury Sea Gulls to without a hit to go along with one walk and four strikeouts as the Big Red took down No. 2 nationally-ranked Salisbury University by a final score of 9-1 at the D3 Showcase on Saturday. Viebrock joined Denison's starting pitcher Nick Falter for what was ultimately a combined two-hitter for the Big Red pitching staff.
RP Bennett Speicher, Jr., Emory
Speicher played a key role in Emory's 16-4 drubbing of Rose-Hulman on Sunday afternoon, hurling five perfect innings, not allowing a single baserunner coming out of the bullpen in relief. Speicher earned the win for Emory with a final line of 5.0 IP, no hits and no walks to go along with six strikeouts. Speicher recorded 0.1 innings pitched with no runs on no hits in the opening game of the series as well.