DALLAS (NCBWA) The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released its National Player of the Week awards for the period ending March 1. Washington junior outfielder Braden Bishop was named National Hitter of the Week, while Army senior right-handed pitcher Alex Robinett 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.
Bishop led the Huskies to a 4-1 mark for the week, reaching base 12 times over the five games. The San Carlos, Calif., native hit .467 (7-for-15) with eight runs scored, six RBI, a double, two home runs and finished with a perfect 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts. He had at least one hit, one RBI and one stolen base in four the five games and stole multiple bases in two of the outings.
In a midweek game against Portland, Bishop collected a hit, two stolen bases, scored a run and drove in two. He came back on Friday in the first game of a four-game series with North Dakota with three hits, three runs scored, a double, a home run, a stolen base and an RBI. Bishop finished with two more hits, two RBIs, two stolen bases, a home run and scored three runs in game two of the series, and finished with a hit and a stolen base in game three. In the series finale, he drove in the sixth run of the week.
Robinett had one of the best pitching performances in 124 seasons of the Army baseball program, throwing the fifth no-hitter in Academy history. A native of Bend, Ore., Robinett struck out 10 Longwood hitters in Army's 1-0 series-opening victory and joined the company of Bob Neyland, Rod Vitty, Jon Rindfleisch and Logan Lee, who each tossed a no-hitter during their respective Army careers. Robinett's no-no was the 12th in Patriot League history. Lee was the last Patriot Leaguer to throw a no-hitter, when he beat Bucknell on April 21, 2012.
Robinett walked four and hit two Longwood batters en route to his first win of the season, his seventh-career complete game and second shutout. He allowed baserunners in all but three innings and finished the game by retiring the final seven hitters he faced, including a swinging strikeout to end the game.
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 NCBWA Division I National Players of the Week, contact NCBWA Assistant Executive Director Mike Montoro at West Virginia University at 304-293-2821.
2015 NCBWA Division I Players of the Week:
Feb. 15: Eric Gutierrez, Texas Tech (Hitter); Luke Gillingham, Navy (Pitcher)
· Feb. 22: KJ Harrison, Oregon State (Hitter); Preston Morrison, TCU (Pitcher)
· March 1: Braden Bishop, Washington (Hitter); Alex Robinett, Army (Pitcher)
· March 8: Dante Flores, USC (Hitter); Carson Cross, Connecticut (Pitcher)
· March 15: David Thompson, Miami (Hitter); Chris Chism, Tennessee Tech (Pitcher)
· March 22: DJ Stewart, Florida State (Hitter); Drew Rasmussen, Oregon State (Pitcher)
· March 29: Chris Shaw, Boston College (Hitter); James McMahon, Southern Miss (Pitcher)
· April 5: Christin Stewart, Tennessee (Hitter); James Reeves, The Citadel (Pitcher)
· April 12: JJ Schwarz, Florida (Hitter); Anthony Kay, Connecticut (Pitcher)
· April 26: Kevin Kaczmarski, Evansville (Hitter); Kevin Hill, South Alabama (Pitcher)
· May 5: Clayton Meyer, Morehead State and Bryce Greager, Nevada (Hitter); Matt Hall, Missouri State (Pitcher)
· May 12: Jeff Boehm, UIC (Hitter); Thomas Eshelman, Cal State Fullerton (Pitcher)
· May 19: Tyler Lawrence, Murray State (Hitter); James Kaprielian, UCLA (Pitcher)