DALLAS (NCBWA) The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released the Pro-Line Athletic National Player of the Week awards for the period ending May 22. Florida State freshman infielder Jason Stidham was named National Hitter of the Week, while Southern Miss senior righthander Ryan Belanger was named National Pitcher of the Week.
The NCBWA Board has reviewed candidates from each Division I conference each week and named winners each Tuesday throughout the season. This is the final selection of the 2007 season.
Stidham put together a spectacular three-game series as the freshman third baseman hit .571 (8-for-14) in leading Florida State to its first three-game series sweep of Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The Palm Bay, Fla., native registered multiple hits in all three games as he posted his second four-hit game of his career in game one. He collected a home run and three doubles en route to posting a 1.000 slugging percentage and an on-base percentage of .588. Stidham led the team in hits (8), doubles (3), RBI's (10), total bases (14) and batting average on the week. He opened the series, with four hits including a home run and a double as he registered his first four-RBI game of his collegiate career. He hit what would be the eventual game-winner in the top of the third as he hit a two-out, 2-RBI single. On Friday, he had two doubles and two RBI's as well as a stolen base.
In the series finale, Stidham tied his career-high in RBI's with four, matched just two days prior. In a nine-run third, Stidham made two plate appearances and was the only Seminole to collect two hits in the inning. He hit a two-run single in his first at-bat and then an RBI infield single in his second at-bat. He hit a sacrifice fly RBI in the ninth to cap off his 10 RBI performance.
Belanger pitched the first complete-game of his two-year Southern Miss career and limited Houston to four hits, one walk and struck out eight batters to lead Southern Miss to a 6-0 victory over the Cougars in game one of the series at Cougar Field on Thursday night.
Belanger finished with 120 pitches, gave up one walk in the first inning, two hits in the third inning, one in the fourth inning and one in the eighth inning. Only one runner advanced to second base in the game and he retired the side in six of the nine innings. His eight strikeouts matched his season high that he collected against Kent State on March 16.
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