DALLAS (NCBWA) – No. 6 East Texas Baptist University graduate pitcher Sayers Collins has solidified his spot as one of the top pitchers in NCAA Div. III after upping his scoreless streak to 27 innings to start the 2024 season. Collins has allowed just six hits over the 27 innings. He collects National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association NCAA Div. III Pitcher of the Week honors for the third time. A seven-home run week and an 11-RBI week that helped a team climb into the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 Poll garnered the Hitter and Rookie of the Week awards for games played March 4-10.
HITTER OF THE WEEK
Calvin University (Michigan) sophomore infielder Patrick Gillen led the Knights to a 6-1 week at the RussMatt Invitational in Florida. Gillen hit .485 (16-for-33) with 20 RBI, 13 runs scored, seven home runs, three walks, and two doubles. Gillen opened the trip with a 4-for-5 outing against Bethany College (West Virginia). The sophomore clubbed a pair of homers and had four RBI and three runs scored. The slugger belted three home runs and drove in eight in an 15-10 win over the University of Pittsburgh Greensburg (Pennsylvania) on March 9. Gillen logged five multi-hit games and five multi-RBI games on the week and reached base safely in all seven games. The D3baseball.com Team of the Week and Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Position Player of the Week leads the conference with
seven home runs.
Honorable Mention Hitter: Chris Knowles, Sr., INF, Gustavus Adolphus College (Minnesota) – Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Player of the Week after batting .500 with 17 RBI in seven games during the Gusties’ trip to the Tucson Invitational. Hit 15-for-30 with 10 runs scored, two doubles, and three home runs, helping the Gusties go 5-2. Knowles had a hit in every game of the trip and extended his hitting streak to nine games to start the season. He capped the week with his best performance in a 13-0 win over Sul Ross State University (Texas), batting 4-for-4 with two home runs and eight RBI.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
No. 6 East Texas Baptist University graduate standout Sayers Collins went eight innings for the win over No. 14 University of La Verne (California) on Saturday. Collins retired the first seven batters of the 3-1 victory and had a no-hitter through five innings. He finished with four strikeouts in the eight shutout innings and retired the side in the first, second, fourth, fifth, seventh, and eighth innings. Collins held a lineup averaging 11 runs and 13 hits entering the weekend series scoreless on just two hits. Collins has not allowed a run this season over 27 innings. He is 4-0 and has allowed six hits and has struck out 24. Collins was previously the NCBWA Div. III Pitcher of the Month for February 2022 and the Pitcher of the Week for games played May 2-8, 2022. He was the honorable mention Pitcher of the Month for
February in 2024. Of note, ETBU’S seven athlete of the week selections are tied for the second-most since the NCBWA started Div. III weekly honors in 2003.
Honorable Mention Pitcher: Jonas Ceballos, So., Austin College (Texas) – Threw a complete game, seven-inning shutout against Blackburn College (Illinois) on Sunday. Struck out 13 batters and scattered three hits, two of which came in the final inning of the 4-0 victory. Named to D3baseball.com Team of the Week and was the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (California) first-year shortstop Greg Pierantoni fueled an offense that scored 53 runs over four games last week. Hit .563 (9-for-16) with 11 RBI, five runs, two doubles, a home run, and a walk spanning a win over Adrian College (Michigan) and a three-game Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference sweep over University of Redlands (California). Was named SCIAC Hitter of the Week and helped Saghens climb from other receiving votes to 16th in this week’s D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 Poll.
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2024 DIV. III HITTER, PITCHER, AND ROOKIE OF THE WEEK SELECTIONS
• Month of February: Luke Finn, UT Dallas (Hitter); Wil Wood, Millsaps (Pitcher); Alex Miller, Centenary (Louisiana) (Rookie)
• Games played Feb. 26 – March 3: Dane Jones, LeTourneau (Hitter); Brandon Cassedy, Christopher Newport (Pitcher); JB Landrum, Huntingdon (Rookie)
• Games played March 4-10: Patrick Gillen, Calvin (Hitter); Sayers Collins, ETBU (Pitcher); Greg Pierantoni, Pomona-Pitzer (Rookie)