DALLAS (NCBWA) The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released its National Player of the Week awards for the period ending March 7. Oregon redshirt junior designated hitter Kenyon Yovan was named National Hitter of the Week, while Texas redshirt sophomore right-handed pitcher Ty Madden 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.
Yovan, who led Oregon to a series sweep of nationally ranked UC Santa Barbara last weekend, batted .467 (7-for-15) with four home runs and 11 RBI, while finishing with a blistering 1.267 slugging percentage and .591 on-base percentage.
After walking twice in five plate appearances in Friday's 7-6 win, the Beaverton, Oregon, native led the Ducks to a doubleheader sweep of the Gauchos on Saturday and extra-innings win on Sunday. In the doubleheader, Yovan hit three home runs and drove in nine runs in the two wins while going 5-for-9 at the plate with three runs scored and a walk.
In game one on Saturday, Yovan drove in four of Oregon's five runs with a home run and a single in a 5-4 win. With the Ducks trailing 4-0 in the top of the eighth, The Ducks' DH crushed a three-run homer to cut the Gauchos lead to one with Oregon eventually tying the game later in the inning. Then in the ninth, Yovan drove in the go-ahead run with a single to right field.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Yovan hit a pair of home runs and finished 3-for-4 with five RBI and three runs scored with a walk in Oregon's 17-2 win. He hit a two-run home run in the second inning, added a sacrifice fly in the fifth and hit another two-run bomb in the eighth. He finished the day with a single and a run scored in the eighth inning.
Sunday, Yovan gave the Ducks an early lead hitting his fourth home run of the series in the first inning, a solo shot over the left-field fence. He added a RBI single off the top of the left-field wall in the seventh to give Oregon a 3-1 lead. UCSB had enough of Yovan after that, intentionally walking him in his final two bats, both times with two outs and nobody on base. The final walk resulted in a run scored in Oregon's decisive five-run 10th inning.
Madden pitched a complete game shutout with 14 strikeouts against Houston last week, allowing just two hits and four total base runners. In his second career complete game, The Cypress, Texas, native set a new career high with the 14 strikeouts after fanning a career-best 11 hitters the previous week against BYU.
The complete game shutout was the first by a Longhorn pitcher since Nolan Kingham went the distance in a 2-0 win over Kansas State in 2017.
Madden struck out the side in the fifth inning, fanned at least one batter in all nine innings and struck out multiple batters in four different frames. All but two of Madden's 14 strikeouts were swinging.
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, 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.
2021 NCBWA Division I Players of the Week:
Week ending Feb. 22: Blayne Jones, Dallas Baptist (Hitter); Jordan Wicks, Kansas State (Pitcher)
· Week ending Feb. 28: Dominic Keegan, Vanderbilt (Hitter); Will Dion, McNeese State (Pitcher)
· Week ending March 7: Kenyon Yovan, Oregon (Hitter); Ty Madden, Texas (Pitcher)
· Week ending March 14: Cade Doughty, LSU (Hitter); Jarrett Whorff, Louisiana Tech (Pitcher)
· Week ending March 21: Robby Martin, Florida State (Hitter); Jack Leiter, Vanderbilt (Pitcher)
· Week ending March 28: Caden Grice, Clemson (Hitter); Chayce McDermott, Ball State (Pitcher)
· Week ending April 4: Adrian Del Castillo, Miami (Hitter); Seth Lonsway, Ohio State (Pitcher)
· Week ending April 11: Ivan Melendez, Texas (Hitter); Jonathan Cannon, Georgia (Pitcher)
· Week ending April 18: Aaron Beck, Indiana State (Hitter); Alek Jacob, Gonzaga (Pitcher)
· Week ending April 25: T.J. Collett, Kentucky (Hitter); Landen Bourassa, San Francisco (Pitcher)
· Week ending May 2: Dustin Demeter, Hawaii (Hitter); Tyler Burnham, Seton Hall (Pitcher)
· Week ending May 9: Will Frizzell, Texas A&M (Hitter); Justin Campbell, Oklahoma State (Pitcher)
· Week ending May 16: Ethan Long, Arizona State (Hitter); Andrew Abbott, Virginia (Pitcher)
· Week ending May 23: Cody Littlejohn, Tennessee Tech (Hitter); Cooper Hjerpe, Oregon State (Pitcher)
2021 NCBWA Division I Players of the Month:
February: Wes Clarke, South Carolina (Player); Carson Whisenhunt, East Carolina (Pitcher)
· March: Tim Elko, Ole Miss (Player); Jack Leiter, Vanderbilt (Pitcher)
· April: Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Oklahoma State (Player); Kevin Kopps, Arkansas (Pitcher)
· May: Jack Rogers, Sam Houston (Player); Kevin Kopps, Arkansas (Pitcher)