DALLAS (NCBWA) – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association has named its Dick Howser Trophy Players of the Month for May presented by The Game Headwear, honoring Kansas junior shortstop Tyson LeBlanc as the National Hitter of the Month and Washington State’s redshirt sophomore left-handed pitcher Nick Lewis as the National Pitcher of the Month.
LeBlanc led the Jayhawks to a Big 12 Tournament title and helped KU sweep through the Lawrence Regional after hitting .382 (26-for-68) on the month with eight home runs and 20 RBIs. He slugged .824 by adding six doubles to his statline and scored 15 runs primarily out of the leadoff spot for Kansas. He was named the Lawrence Regional Most Outstanding Player after hitting .455 (5-for-11) across three games with four extra-base hits, including three home runs, and drove in eight runs. LeBlanc was also tabbed the Big 12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player after hitting .615 (8-for-13) for the tournament with two home runs and seven RBIs. Over the month, LeBlanc recorded eight multi-hit games and tallied four multi-RBI games, which came in four of his final games played during May. LeBlanc scored at least one run in 11 of his 16 games this month, including each of his last nine and 10 of his last 11 starts, and now carries an 11-game hitting streak into KU’s Super Regional matchup with Oklahoma. LeBlanc put the cherry on top of his month by breaking the Kansas program record for home runs in a single season with his 22nd blast of the year in the Jayhawks’ regional-opener against Northeastern, and followed that up with his 23rd and 24th round-trippers against Arkansas in each of his next two games.
The Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Year, Lewis had an outstanding month of May by going 4-0 and posting a 1.05 ERA across five appearances, four of which were starts. He logged 34.1 innings of work for the Cougars, including two complete games, and struck out 23 batters while walking just four. Lewis held opponents to a .205 batting average, scattering 25 hits across his four starts on the month. He opened May with a complete game victory over Fresno State, allowing just one unearned run on five hits with five strikeouts and no walks, then got the win at Air Force after another quality start (7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 SO). He recorded two quick outs on just nine pitches in relief against Seattle, then nearly went the distance again against Air Force in the MWC Tournament with a career-high 11 punchouts in 8.2 frames, again allowing just one unearned run. To cap off his month, Lewis threw another CG in the Cougars’ regional opener against Oregon State, helping WSU to a 3-2 victory and earning him a spot on the Eugene Regional All-Tournament Team. Lewis became the first Cougar with 10 wins in a season since 2000 and garnered the program’s first conference player of the year award in school history.
This marks the 11th consecutive year that the NCBWA has honored a national hitter and national pitcher of the month. 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, ncbwa.com.