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 29. UCF senior third baseman Matt Horwath was named National Hitter of the Week, while Tennessee sophomore lefthander James Adkins was named National Pitcher of the Week.
The NCBWA Board reviews candidates from each Division I conferences each week and names winners each Tuesday throughout the season.
Horwath, the Knights leadoff hitter, had one of the best offensive weeks in UCF history. In four games, he went 11-for-16 for a .688 average, scored eight runs, drove in three, stole a base and had four doubles, a home run and his first two triples of his career. The senior scored twice and had at least two hits in all four games to help the Knights go 4-0 on the week, including a three-game sweep of Tulane, its first-ever sweep of a C-USA series. In Friday night's series opener against Tulane he hit for UCF's first-ever cycle. Horwath was hit by a pitch in the first, singled in the third, tripled in the fourth and homered to lead-off the seventh. He came to the plate with the score tied at 6-6 in the eighth and delivered with a RBI double to complete the cycle and also give UCF a 7-6 win.
Adkins broke the Tennessee school record for strikeouts during a complete-game win at LSU last Friday in which he allowed just three hits and struck out 14 batters. The preseason All-America selection got Jason Lewis to strikeout looking in the bottom of the sixth inning to break former big-leaguer and Vol great R.A. Dickey's school record of 345 strikeouts from 1994-96. Adkins now boasts 350 Ks for his career and has 103 on the season. A junior from Mt. Juliet, Tenn., Adkins needed just three pitches for six of his 14 Ks Friday. He allowed only one run while notching his sixth career complete game and his second of 2007.
With this week's honor, Adkins 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