DALLAS (NCBWA) parkling efforts on the mound and at the plate guided UW-La Crosse's Shane Adler and Lancaster Bible's Matt Taliercio to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's Division III national Pitcher and Hitter of the Week honors for the period of April 28-May 4.
Adler, a junior from Cross Plains, Wis., earned a pair of victories in two appearances during the week en route to Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week honors. He pitched 15.0 innings overall with a 0.60 earned run average. Adler allowed one earned run for the week with 17 strikeouts. In Wis.-La Crosse's 13-0 victory over Wis.-Platteville on April 30, Adler went 6.0 innings, allowing four hits and three walks with six strikeouts. In a 2-1 win over Wis.-Oshkosh on May 4, Adler pitched a complete game, going 9.0 innings, allowing four hits, one run and one walk with a career-high 11 strikeouts. He joined teammate Jordan Greenland in gaining an NCBWA honor, as Greenland was Hitter of the Week last week.
Taliercio, a senior from Norwalk, Conn., led the Chargers to a perfect 4-0 record with three conference wins to close out the regular season, boasting a slash line of .737/.750/1.316 after going 14-for-19 at the plate with three home runs, two doubles, eight RBIs, 12 runs scored, a walk, a stolen base and no strikeouts. The North Eastern Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week was perfect at the plate in two of the Chargers' three wins during a three-game series sweep over conference rival Cazenovia College, going 5-for-5 with two home runs, five RBIs, five runs scored and a walk in a wild 18-11 win May 2 before going 4-for-4 with a home run, two RBIs and three runs scored in a 7-3 win to close the series May 3. In between those performances, he collected two hits with a double and drove in a run while scoring two others in a 15-5 win during game two Saturday. He also went 3-for-5 with two runs scored in an 8-6 nonconference win over Messiah.
Honorable Mention Hitters: Kyle McHugh, UW-Stevens Point - .462 (12-for-26) batting average with a slugging percentage of 1.192 and an on-base percentage of .484 during the week which included five home runs, four doubles, 15 RBI and nine runs scored over the six games Matt Hammond, Grinnell - 12 hits in 17 at bats including a homer, two doubles and 13 RBIs while compiling a slugging percentage of 1.000.
Honorable Mention Pitchers: Chad Zurat, Penn St.-Behrend - Complete-game shutout, striking out 15 batters in the process. At one point, he punched-out eight consecutive Pitt-Bradford players and even accomplished the rare feat of striking out four in one inning due to a batter who reached first on a wild pitch. 15 strikeouts is one shy of the Behrend record.
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 Dick Howser Player of the Year Award, Regional Player of the Year and NCBWA All-America voting. The NCBWA also sponsors preseason All-America awards, publication and writing contests.