DALLAS (NCBWA) The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released the Pro-Line Athletic National Player of the Week awards for the period ending Feb. 11. Vanderbilt sophomore third baseman Pedro Alvarez was named National Hitter of the Week, while Charlotte senior lefthander Spencer Steedley 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.
In three games against nationally-ranked opponents at the Minute Maid College Classic, Alvarez batted 7-for-14 (.500) with two doubles, a triple, a home run and five RBI in the Commodores three-game sweep of the field. Alvarez was 2-for-5 with three RBI in Vandy's win over No. 1 Rice on Friday. He followed that performance with a 3-for-4 day, including a homer and two RBI against No. 12 Arizona State. The New York City native closed out the tourney with two more hits against No. 20 Baylor on Sunday.
Steedley threw a complete game shutout in his second start of the season, striking out a career-high 13 batters in Charlotte's 8-0 win at Campbell on Saturday. Steedley had at least one strikeout in every inning, and kept Campbell from advancing any runners past second base. He did not walk a batter and scattered seven singles in posting his first win of the season.
With this week's honor, Steedley automatically is named to the watch list for Roger Clemens Award, given to the national collegiate pitcher of the year, sponsored by the Greater Houston Baseball Organization.
Fort Worth-based Pro-Line Athletic supplies the official cap to more than 100 Division I college teams and official uniforms and team wear to six Division 1 college teams. This is the third season Pro-Line has sponsored the NCBWA's Players of the Week. The sponsorship provides for plaques to be awarded to each of the weekly winners and other promotional consideration. For more information about Pro-Line, visit their Web site at prolineathletic.com.
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 Pro-Line Athletic Players of the Week, contact Mike Montoro at the University of Southern Mississippi at 601-266-5947.
2007 Pro-Line Athletic Players of the Week:
Feb. 13: Pedro Alvarez, Vanderbilt (Hitter);
Spencer Steedley, Charlotte (Pitcher)
· Feb. 20: Jericho Jones, Louisiana Tech
(Hitter); James Simmons, UC Riverside (Pitcher)
· Feb. 27: Mike Bianucci, Auburn (Hitter);
Brian Matusz, San Diego (Pitcher)
· March 6: David Doss, South Alabama (Hitter);
Sean Urena, Cal State Fullerton (Pitcher)
· March 13: Justin Bour, George Mason (Hitter);
David Price, Vanderbilt (Pitcher)
· March 20: Corey Brown, Oklahoma State
(Hitter); Lance Lynn, Ole Miss (Pitcher)
· March 27: Matt LaPorta, Florida (Hitter);
Eric Rohr, Saint Louis (Pitcher)
· April 3: Tony Thomas Jr., Florida State
(Hitter); Trey Barham, VMI (Pitcher)
· April 10: Travis Jones, South Carolina
(Hitter); Ryan Berry, Rice and Rick Zagone, Missouri (Pitcher)
· April 17: Kellen Kulbacki, James Madison
(Hitter); Brad Brach, Monmouth (Pitcher)
· April 24: Ryan Heath, Oakland (Hitter);
Scott Barnes, St. John's (Pitcher)
· May 1: Matt Horwath, UCF (Hitter); James
Adkins, Tennessee (Pitcher)
· May 8: Blake Stouffer, Texas A&M (Hitter);
Matt Daly, Hawai'i (Pitcher)
· May 15: Matt Spencer, Arizona State (Hitter);
Matt Gianini, Central Connecticut (Pitcher)
· May 22: Jason Stidham, Florida State (Hitter);
Ryan Belanger, Southern Miss (Pitcher)
Related link:
Pro-Line Athletic Player of the Week plaques