DALLAS (NCBWA) The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released the Pro-Line Athletic National Player of the Week awards for the period ending May 17.
Miami junior outfielder Chris Hermann was named National Hitter of the Week, while Louisville junior left-handed pitcher Justin Marks 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.
Herrmann led the Hurricanes offensively in their series sweep at Wake Forest, going 10-for-13 (.769) with team-highs in RBI (8), runs (8), walks (4), total bases (17), on-base percentage (.824) and slugging percentage (1.308). In Thursday's series-opening win, Herrmann became the first Hurricane to score five runs in a game since Jim Burt accomplished the feat on June 6, 2004 against FAU. The junior from Tomball, Texas, then recorded his second two-homer game in a span of 15 days in UM's Miami's win in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. Herrmann finished with at least three hits in all three games over the weekend, recording three in each of the first two games before going a perfect 4-for-4 in the series finale. He reached base in 14 of his 18 plate appearances against the Demon Deacons, adding four walks to his 10 hits.
In a season full of solid performances, Marks saved his best effort for his biggest start of the year. He scattered four hits in 7.2 shutout innings in Louisville's 2-1 win against first-place USF, sparking the Cardinals' three-game sweep of the Bulls that delivered the Big East regular-season title to Louisville. Marks struck out 12 without walking a batter to improve to 9-2 on the year and improve his own school records for career wins (27), strikeouts (282) and earned-run average (2.82).
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 I college teams. This is the fifth 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 NCBWA Assistant Executive Director Mike Montoro at West Virginia University at 304-293-2821.
2009 Pro-Line Athletic Players of the Week:
Feb. 24: Chris Kersten, Louisiana Tech (Hitter);
Schaeffer Hall, Kansas (Pitcher)
· March 3: Kent Matthes, Alabama (Hitter); Ryan
Berry, Rice and Brandon Workman, Texas (Pitcher)
· March 10: Daniel Hill, Murray State (Hitter);
Wade Kapteyn, Evansille (Pitcher)
· March 17: Digger Towe, UAB (Hitter); Kyle Gibson,
Missouri (Pitcher)
· March 24: Kyle Roller, East Carolina (Hitter);
Stephen Strasburg, San Diego State (Pitcher)
· March 31: Rich Poythress, Georgia (Hitter); Cody
Wheeler, Coastal Carolina (Pitcher)
· April 7: Brett Nommensen, Eastern Illinois (Hitter);
Nolan Moody, Michigan State (Pitcher)
· April 14: Juan Martinez, Oral Roberts (Hitter);
Brad Stillings, Kent State (Pitcher)
· April 21: Derek McCallum, Minnesota (Hitter);
Alex White, North Carolina (Pitcher)
· April 28: Shane Brown, UCF and Jesse Sawyer, South
Dakota State (Hitter); J.T. Ross, Northeastern (Pitcher)
· May 5: Justin Bour, George Mason (Hitter); Alex
Wimmers, Ohio State (Pitcher)
· May 12: Greg Folgia, Missouri (Hitter); Stephen
Strasburg, San Diego State (Pitcher)
· May 19: Chris Hermann, Miami (Hitter); Justin
Marks, Louisville (Pitcher)