DALLAS (NCBWA) The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released its weekly NCAA Division II National Players of the Week awards of the season for the period ending March 31. Colorado Mesa's senior infielder Colton Little is the National Hitter of the Week while West Texas A&M's junior righthander Dylan James is the National Pitcher of the Week.
Colton Little (Westminster, Colo.) had a career weekend against Adams State. In the four-game sweep, he hit .709 (12-for-17) with three doubles, two homeruns, 10 runs scored and nine runs driven in. He raised his batting average over 100 points and was on-base over 73 percent of the time. For the season, Little is now hitting .370 with two home runs and 20 RBI. This is the first national hitting award for the Mavericks.
Dylan James (Las Cruces, N.M.) had a masterful game as he tossed a complete game, two-hitter along with a career, school-record and LSC season-high 14 strikeouts topping his previous best of 13 set earlier this season. James' performance helped lead the Buff s to a 3-1 win for just the second win at Angelo State in school history. It was his first win of the season (1-1) and WT career as he lowered his ERA to 2.86. He has a team-high 46 strikeouts on the year in six starts with two complete games. The opposition is hitting just .175 against him. This is the first national pitching award for the Buffs.
Division II Regional Players of the Week:
Atlantic: Joe Camp, Concord (Hitter); Shayne Herold, Gannon (Pitcher)
· Central: Tory Stoffregen, Pittsburg State (Hitter); Travis Walch, Northeastern State (Pitcher)
· East: Sean Keady, Bentley (Hitter); Robert Frank, St. Thomas Aquinas (Pitcher)
· Midwest: Alex Sortwell, Ashland (Hitter); Brad Zambron, Grand Valley State (Pitcher)
· South: Taed Moses, St. Leo (Hitter); Andrew Busby, Alabama-Huntsville (Pitcher)
· South Central: Colton Little, Colorado Mesa (Hitter); Dylan James, West Texas A&M (Pitcher)
· Southeast: Ryan Lewis, Columbus State (Hitter); Dylan Wolchick, Lander (Pitcher)
· West: Matt Daugherty, Cal Baptist (Hitter); David Armas, Cal State-LA (Pitcher)
Founded in 1962, the NCBWA is dedicated to the advancement of college baseball. Membership is open to writers, broadcasters and publicists of the sport. Members receive a membership card, directory, newsletter updates and official votes in the Howser Award Player of the Year, Regional Player of the Year and NCBWA All-America voting. The NCBWA also sponsors preseason All-America awards, publication and writing contests.
2013 NCBWA Division II Players of the Week:
Feb. 10: Lee Neumann, Angelo State (Hitter); Nick Fogarty, Valdosta State (Pitcher)
· Feb. 17: Josh Wenger, Concord (Hitter); Ryan Goodbrand, UC San Diego (Pitcher)
· Feb. 24: Connor McCain, Alabama-Huntsville (Hitter); Chris Murphy, Millersville (Pitcher)
· March 3: Dylan Tice, Indiana, Pa. (Hitter); Junior Mendez, Southern New Hampshire (Pitcher)
· March 10: Gioncarlo Brugnoni, Grand Valley State (Hitter); Shane Trattles, Mary (Pitcher)
· March 17: Kyle Giusti, Abilene Christian (Hitter); Chris Murphy, Millersville (Pitcher)
· March 24: Charlie Sharrer, Cal State-East Bay (Hitter); Scott Lieser, St. Cloud State (Pitcher)
· March 31: Colton Little, Colorado Mesa (Hitter); Dylan James, West Texas A&M (Pitcher)
· April 7: Nate Olinger, Colorado Mines (Hitter); Stephen Cooke, Indiana (Pa.) (Pitcher)
· April 14: Ryan Messina, Shepard (Hitter); Dallas Ponder, Texas A&M-Kingsville (Pitcher)
· April 21: Brady Capshaw, Southern Arkansas (Hitter); Robert Frank, St. Thomas Aquanis (Pitcher)
· April 28: Jacob Nelson, Metro State (Hitter); Collin Sherrod, St. Edward's (Pitcher)
· May 5: Zach Bricknell, Young Harris (Hitter); Brian Ernst, East Stroudsburg (Pitcher)