DALLAS (NCBWA) The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released its National Player of the Week awards for the period ending March 11. Coastal Carolina senior outfielder Daniel Bowman was named National Hitter of the Week, while North Carolina junior right-hander Michael Morin was named National Pitcher of the Week. The NCBWA Board reviews candidates from each Division I Conference each week and names winners each Tuesday throughout the season.
Bowman batted .538 (14-26) in six games last week, recorded multiple hits in all six contests and tallied an RBI in five of the six outings. The Bridgewater, Va., native scored seven times, had six RBI and hit for the cycle over the week with a double, triple and home run. He also walked three times, stole two bases, put down a sacrifice and hit a sacrifice fly to help the Chanticleers win four games. Bowman was 3-4 with a double, home run and two RBIs vs. Toledo on March 9, and was 3-5 vs. Marist on March 10. He accounted for three of Coastals four runs in the 4-1 win over Ohio State on Saturday. Bowman finished the week with a .581 on-base percentage and a .769 slugging percentage.
Morin appeared in all five UNC wins last week, including a series sweep at No. 17 Clemson. The Leawood, Kansas, native opened the week by notching saves in midweek wins over Davidson and at Elon. Friday night at Clemson, Morin entered in the eighth inning night with the game-tying run at second and picked up a strikeout before tossing a scoreless ninth to complete the save.
After a three-run ninth by the Tar Heels Saturday, Morin came on and earned his second straight save of the weekend with a scoreless inning. A ninth inning rally that tied the Sunday contest saw Morin enter in the bottom of the ninth with the winning run at third base. The right-hander struck out Thomas Brittle to end the threat. Morin then picked up a big double play in the 10th before tossing a 1-2-3 11th to earn his first win of the year. Morin is now tied for the most saves in the ACC with six on the year after the four last week. He has not allowed a run this season in 10 appearances spanning 12.1 innings and owns a 13/2 K/BB ratio. Morin has moved into fifth place on the UNC all-time saves list with 19, passing Paul Shueys mark of 18.
Founded in 1962, the NCBWA is dedicated to the advancement of college baseball. Membership is open to writers, broadcasters and publicists of the sport. For more information about the NCBWA, visit the association's official Web site, www.ncbwa.com.
For more information on the NCBWA Division I National Players of the Week, contact NCBWA Assistant Executive Director Mike Montoro at West Virginia University at 304-293-2821.
2012 NCBWA Division I Players of the Week:
Feb. 21: William Arnold, Central Michigan (Hitter);
Robert Huber, Duke (Pitcher)
· Feb. 28: Johnny
Coy, Wichita State (Hitter); Ryan Arrowood, Appalachian State (Pitcher)
·
March 6: Mason Katz, LSU (Hitter); Brian Holmes,
Wake Forest (Pitcher)
· March 13: Daniel
Bowman, Coastal Carolina (Hitter); Michael Morin, North Carolina (Pitcher)
· March 20: Travis Jankowski, Stony Brook (Hitter);
Chris Stratton, Mississippi State (Pitcher)
·
March 27: Max Muncy, Baylor (Hitter); Sean Newcomb,
Hartford (Pitcher)
· April 3: Alex Swim,
Elon (Hitter); Bobby Wahl, Ole Miss (Pitcher)
·
April 10: Richie Shaffer, Clemson (Hitter); Sam
Moll, Memphis (Pitcher)
·
April 17: Beau Amaral, UCLA (Hitter); Henry
Sisson, Davidson (Pitcher)
·
April 24: Alex Blandino, Stanford (Hitter);
Steven Hill, Penn State and Andrew Thurman, UC Irvine (Pitcher)
·
May 1: Derek Gibson, Southeast Missouri (Hitter);
Kevin Ferguson, Northeastern (Pitcher)
·
May 8: Goose Kallunki, Utah Valley (Hitter);
Andrew Heaney, Oklahoma State (Pitcher)
·
May 15: Pablo Bermudez, FIU (Hitter);
Ross Stripling, Texas A&M (Pitcher)
·
May 22: Ryan Padilla, New Mexico (Hitter);
Mark Appel, Stanford and Tyler Duffey, Rice (Pitcher)