DALLAS (NCBWA) Junior Pat Birrer of Otterbein and senior Caleb Boushley of UW-La Crosse gained National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Division III Hitter and Pitcher of Week accolades for the period of May 1-7.
Birrer, an outfielder from Cincinnati, Ohio, hit a blazing .692 on the week as Otterbein swept doubleheaders at #5 Wooster and then Muskingum to clinch a spot in the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament. The OAC Hitter of the Week slammed a difference-making two-run homer in a 3-1 win at Wooster and also went 3 for 5 with four RBI in the postseason-clinching victory at Muskingum.
Boushley, a right-handed pitcher from Hortonville, Wis., recorded his fifth complete game of the season and second shutout in Wis.-La Crosse's 11-0 victory at Wis.-Platteville on May 5. He went 8.0 innings, allowing three hits and one walk while tying his career-high with 12 strikeouts. Wis.-Platteville advanced one runner to third base in the game. Boushley has pitched at least 7.0 innings in all 10 of his starts this season, including at least 8.0 innings in his four WIAC starts. The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conferences Pitcher of the Week set two school records in the win over Wis.-Platteville, becoming the program·s career leader in innings (241.2) and strikeouts (205).
Honorable Mention Hitters: Tyler Hoops (Fr., INF, Pitt-Bradford): Hit .533 in four games with a double, a triple, two home runs and nine RBIs. He scored 11 runs and had a 6/3 walk-to-strikeout ratio. In a 5-0 victory over Medaille, Hoops accounted for three of the team's five runs, helping the Panthers secure a postseason berth in their final game of the season. The freshman connected for his first career home run in the team's 18-3 victory over Penn State Altoona in the opening round of the AMCC tournament. Then, in game two against Altoona, he swatted his second homer of the day, a three-run shot; Eric Bergman (Sr., OF, Neumann): Hit .700 (7-for-10) with a home run and six RBI in a three-game sweep over Centenary which propelled the Knights to the No. 3 seed in this weeks playoffs. He had multi-hit games in each contest in addition to scoring six runs and drawing three walks.
Honorable Mention Pitchers: Nanak Saran (Jr., RHP, Wooster): Was lights out last week as didnt allow an earned run in two league wins against Hiram, 5-0, and Ohio Wesleyan, 10-0. In the win over Hiram, he struck out six and allowed five hits in 6.0 in·nings of work, before striking out seven and allowing just three hits in an 8.0 inning complete-game shutout against the Bishops; Ron Buchetto (Sr., LHP, Eastern Connecticut State): In the final regular-season and home start of his career, he tossed the team·s first nine-inning complete game of the season May 3 in a 5-3 non-conference win over Wheaton College, the No. 2 ranked team in the NCAA Division III New England Region. Buchetto faced only seven batters over the minimum, allowing four hits while fanning a career-high eight, walking one and hitting two batters. Buchetto threw 83 of his 114 pitches for strikes as Eastern won its season-high fourth straight game. Buchetto retired ten straight after a leadoff single. With Eastern leading 5-2, he left two runners in scoring position in the sixth and seventh, ending the sixth with a swinging strikeout and the seventh with an infield pop. He completed the complete game with a 1-2-3 ninth which included a strikeout looking a strikeout swinging and game-ending ground ball to short.
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