DALLAS (NCBWA) The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released its National Player of the Week awards for the period ending April 21. Louisville junior first baseman Logan Wyatt was named National Hitter of the Week, while West Virginia junior right-handed pitcher Alek Manoah was named National Pitcher of the Week. This marks the second time this season that Manoah has been awarded with National Pitcher of the Week honors, earning it on April 9. The NCBWA Board reviews candidates from each Division I Conference each week and names winners each Tuesday throughout the season.
Wyatt was red-hot last week, hitting .550 (11-for-20) as the Cardinals picked up a win at Kentucky and took two of three from Miami. The Louisville, Ky., native had three doubles, three homers and drove in 12 runs over the four games. He also had one of the highlights of the week with a straight steal of home in the fifth inning of Saturday's series finale as the Cardinals rallied back from a 6-0 deficit to win 9-6.
The strong performance last week continues the tear the All-American has been on over the previous eight contests, in which he is batting .472 with five doubles, four homers, 20 RBIs and 14 runs scored. For the season, Wyatt has his average up to .321 with seven long balls and 38 runs batted in.
For the second consecutive start, Manoah struck out 15 batters in a complete-game shutout. He once again did not walk a batter and allowed just three hits as WVU beat Kansas, 1-0, on April 20. Manoah matched his career high with 15 strikeouts, set a week before, as he became the first Mountaineer in program history to strike out 15 batters in a complete-game shutout in back-to-back weeks. He is the fourth player in WVU history with multiple 15-strikeout games in the same season, and the first since John Radosevich struck out 17 once and 16 twice in 1965.
As Manoah extended his shutout streak to 31.2 consecutive innings, he earned his team-leading sixth win of the season with his eighth quality start in 10 starts this year. The Miami, Fla., native struck out two batters in an inning four times and struck out three in the first. He had at least one strikeout in every inning and retired 12 in a row beginning in the second inning. He added four perfect 1-2-3 innings. Last week, Manoah was the lone Big 12 pitcher to notch more than 10 strikeouts and the only one to not walk a batter in more than 5.1 innings pitched.
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 website, 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.
2019 NCBWA Division I Players of the Week:
Week ending Feb. 17: Austin Martin, Vanderbilt (Hitter); Grant Judkins, Iowa (Pitcher)
· Week ending Feb. 24: Thomas Dillard, Ole Miss (Hitter); Tommy Henry, Michigan (Pitcher)
· Week ending March 3: Harrison Freed, Butler and TJ Hopkins, South Carolina (Hitter); Tanner Burns, Auburn (Pitcher)
· Week ending March 10: Cameron Warren, Texas Tech (Hitter); Jake Kuchmaner, East Carolina and Chris Gerard, Virginia Tech (Pitcher)
· Week ending March 17: Chris Lanzilli, Wake Forest (Hitter); Jake Kuchmaner, East Carolina (Pitcher)
· Week ending March 24: Tristan Peterson, New Mexico State (Hitter); Connor Thomas, Georgia Tech (Pitcher)
· Week ending March 31: Jake Sanford, WKU (Hitter); Zach Thompson, Kentucky (Pitcher)
· Week ending April 7: Kody Hoese, Tulane (Hitter); Alek Manoah, West Virginia (Pitcher)
· Week ending April 14: Spencer Steer, Oregon (Hitter); Cody Luther, Saint Louis and Ryan Shreve, Pacific (Pitcher)
· Week ending April 21: Logan Wyatt, Louisville (Hitter); Alek Manoah, West Virginia (Pitcher)
· Week ending April 28: Keaton Smith, Nevada (Hitter); Ryan Garcia, UCLA (Pitcher)
· Week ending May 5: Chase Smartt, Troy (Hitter); Andy Fisher, Illinois (Pitcher)
· Week ending May 12: Bryce Ball, Dallas Baptist (Hitter); Micah Kaczor, East Tennessee State (Pitcher)
· Week ending May 19: Andrew Daschbach, Stanford (Hitter); Seth Lonsway, Ohio State (Pitcher)
2019 NCBWA Division I Players of the Month:
February: Nick Gonzales, New Mexico State (Player); John Doxakis, Texas A&M (Pitcher)
· March: Hunter Bishop, Arizona State (Player); Reid Detmers, Louisville (Pitcher)
· April: Adley Rutschman, Oregon State (Player); Alek Manoah, West Virginia (Pitcher)