DALLAS (NCBWA) The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released the Pro-Line Athletic National Player of the Week awards for the period ending April 3. Florida State junior second baseman Tony Thomas Jr., was named National Hitter of the Week, while VMI junior left-handed pitcher Trey Barham 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.
Thomas Jr. had a career week as he hit .579 in four games, going 11-for-19 with five home runs, five singles and a double. The Valrico, Fla., native scored nine times and registered eight RBI's, while going a perfect 4-for-4 in the stolen base category. Thomas tallied 27 total bases and slugged 1.421 for the week to lead the Seminoles to three wins including a series victory on the road at Duke.
Against the Blue Devils, he hit .643 (9-for-14) with five home runs, eight runs scored and eight RBI's. He posted career-highs with two home runs and nine total bases in game one as Thomas slugged 2.250 on Friday. In that first game, Thomas hit back-to-back home runs in his first two at-bats as he saw a total of three pitches.
In game two, Thomas led off the game with a double and then hit a solo shot for his third home run of the series. In the series finale, Thomas once again led off the game with a hit, an infield single to second. He hit a two-run homer in the second and followed that with another single in the fourth. His last at-bat was a mirror image of how he began the series with another home run, his fifth of the series and second two-run homer of the game.
In the series finale, he set a career-high with 10 total bases and tied career-highs in runs scored (4) and home runs (2). He was 3-for-3 in leading off the game vs. Duke with a home run, a double and a single.
Barham allowed only one hit in 10 innings of work, including two perfect innings of relief against VCU in a 5-3 win before allowing only two base runners in eight innings against Savannah State. He retired all six batters VCU batters he faced, and mowed down the first 12 hitters against the Tigers. The Portsmouth, Va., native allowed a leadoff walk in the fifth and a two-out single in the seventh against SSU. He finished with eight strikeouts in collecting his sixth win of the season. Barham's line last week was 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 10 IP, 1 H, 0 R/ER, 1 BB, 11 SO, .031 opponents batting average (1-32).
With this week's honor, Barham 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