DALLAS (NCBWA) The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released its National Player of the Week awards for the period ending April 1. Elon junior catcher Alex Swim was named National Hitter of the Week, while Ole Miss sophomore right-hander Bobby Wahl 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.
Wahl worked a career-long 8.0 scoreless innings and held No. 1-ranked Florida to two hits in Friday's 3-0 win to open the series. It was the first time Florida had been shut out this season and first time since April 4, 2011. The Springfield, Va., native only allowed one base runner to advance past first base and struck out six. He retired 13 of the last 14 batters faced, before leaving the game after the 8th inning. With the win, Wahl improved to 5-0 on the season.
He also scored the game-winning run in Sunday's 7-6 win to clinch the weekend series. Wahl entered the game as a pinch runner with one out in the ninth. It was his first career appearance on the base paths since high school.
Swim was instrumental in Elons perfect 4-0 week as he recorded back-to-back five-hit games against Samford over the weekend. The junior backstop was 13-for-22 (.591) at the plate with a double and four runs scored. Swim was 5-for-5 against Samford in game one of Saturday·s doubleheader as the Phoenix opened the series with a 7-4 victory.
In game two, the Greensboro, N.C., native was 5-for-9 in the two-day, 18-inning marathon which Elon eventually pulled out, 5-3. His strong week extended his current hit streak to 22 games, which is the longest in the Southern Conference this season.
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)