DALLAS (NCBWA) The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released its final weekly NCAA Division II National Players of the Week awards of the season for the period ending May 5. Young Harris senior outfielder Zach Bricknell is the National Hitter of the Week while East Stroudsburg senior righthander Brian Ernst is the National Pitcher of the Week.
Zach Bricknell (Woodstock, Ga.) had a monster week, hitting seven home runs in four games with 15 RBIs, a .526 batting average and 1.737 slugging percentage. He became the 11th player in PBC history to hit three home runs in a conference game as he went 3-for-4 with six RBIs in a 9-4 win over Francis Marion. He hit another in the second game of that doubleheader and three more in the season finale against Toccoa Falls. He is the second player in league history to have two three-run homer games in the same year. He has 22 home runs on the year, tied for the seventh-highest single-season total in conference history and a new YHC school record. He is second in the PBC in RBIs and leads in slugging percentage.
Brian Ernst (Allentown, Pa.) set an ESU record with 15 strikeouts in a three-hit shutout (W, 2-0) at Millersville on Friday, pitching the Warriors into the PSAC Tournament. His 15 strikeouts are top mark in PSAC this year, and tied for 2nd-most in DII. Ernst outdueled Millersville's Tim Mayza, Baseball America's No. 6 DII draft prospect. He struck out at least two batters in each inning. Ernst allowed his first hit on a two-out double in the 4th (then struck out the cleanup hitter). In the 6th inning of 1-0 game, he struck out the No. 3 hitter to end the inning with runners on first and second. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th and struck out the final two batters. It was his fourth straight game with 10-plus strikeouts (3-0, 48 strikeouts, 7 walks, 4 runs, 14 hits allowed in 27.2 innings). He moved into fifth at ESU with 182 career strikeouts and is one of four players in PSAC history with 150-plus hits and strikeouts in his career.
Division II Regional Players of the Week:
Atlantic: Pat Kregeloh, Shippensburg (Hitter); Brian Ernst, East Stroudsburg (Pitcher)
· Central: Robbie Rocamora, Northern State (Hitter); Josh Matheson, Minnesota State (Pitcher)
· East: Mike Russo, St. Thomas Aquinas (Hitter); Bo Budkevics, LIU Post (Pitcher)
· Midwest: Payton Reed, Drury (Hitter); Eric Kelling, Maryville (Pitcher)
· South: Michael Revell, St. Leo (Hitter); Dana Wright, Alabama-Huntsville (Pitcher)
· South Central: Curtis Cowell, Colorado State-Pueblo (Hitter); Matt McClain, St. Mary·s (Pitcher)
· Southeast: Zach Bricknell, Young Harris (Hitter); Jake Brandenberger, Flagler (Pitcher)
· West: A.J. Burke, Western Oregon (Hitter); Chris Carlson, Cal Poly Pomona (Pitcher)
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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)