Shutes and Brockhouse Garner Final Player of the Week Award
MAC Baseball Player of the Week
Colin Brockhouse, Ball State
OF, Senior, Fort Wayne, Ind. (Northrop HS)
--hit safely in all four games and finished with multiple hits in three of the four contests
--led the team in hits (8), extra base hits (3), home runs (1), RBIs (3) and total bases (13) during the week
--hit his team-leading 10th home run in the bottom of the sixth inning of Sunday’s game against Western Michigan to tie the score at 3-all. He also had a sacrifice fly ball one inning later to tie the game again at 4-all. Ball State went on to win 6-4.
--Brockouse hit .427 (32-of-75) in 18 home games this year.
MAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week
Sam Shutes, Toledo
RHP, Senior, Three Rivers, Mich. (Three Rivers)
Senior starting pitcher Sam Shutes threw the first complete game shutout of his career on Friday against Bowling Green. Shutes went the distance and faced just two batters above the minimum (29), striking out nine while allowing just two hits and one walk. He retired the final 17 batters he faced, six of which came via the strikeout. Shutes earned his MAC-leading 10th win of the season and finishes the regular season as one of just 15 Division I pitchers with at least 10 wins. Shutes has now thrown at least seven innings in his last nine outings, and four of those starts he threw at least seven shutout frames. He leads the league in innings pitched in conference games (64.1) and is third in ERA (1.96).
Other Player Nominees
Pete Schuler, Kent State
Catcher, Junior,Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin (St. Joseph)
Schuler continued to swing the bat well for the Golden Flashes, hitting .375 over the four-game week. He added four more RBIs and smacked two key doubles in the Flashes' two wins. His clutch late-inning RBI single at Miami helped give KSU some breathing room in its win to clinch the MAC regular season title.
Tommy Szczasny, Northern Illinois University
IF, Sophomore, Tinley Park, Ill. (Lincoln Way North)
Szczasny carried a .429 batting average in Northern Illinois University's final three-game series of the season at Eastern Michigan. He connected for six hits and drove in one run, an RBI single in the series' final in which the Huskies earned a 6-3 win. Szczasny also had a .571 slugging percentage and eight total bases as he finished the season with a team fourth-best .266 batting average.
Zachary Owings, Eastern Michigan
INF, Sophomore, Saline, Mich.(Saline)
Zachary Owings continued to lead the offensive charge in a 2-1 weekend series win over Northern Illinois. The infielder batted .417 for the week, including his sixth home run, three runs driven in, four runs scored, and four walk and a HBP to no strikeouts. Owings leads EMU
and is near the top of the conference with a .362 batting average.
Other Pitcher Nominees
Gus Graham, Miami
RHP, Senior, Gallipolis, Ohio (Gallia Academy)
Senior Gus Graham turned in a three-hit complete game performance against a potent Kent State team on Saturday to seal a series win for the RedHawks. It was his third complete game in his last five starts. He allowed just two runs, none earned, and struck out six in his final game at McKie Field. With the victory, Graham finishes the regular season with A 7-0 record.
George Faue, Northern Illinois University
Pitcher, Senior, Corcoran, Minn. (Rockford)
Faue tossed the first complete game of his career in the series' opener Thursday against Eastern Michigan as he worked eight strong innings. He scattered six hits and gave up one earned run while fanning a single-game career-high six batters. What's more is Faue yielded only one extra base hit and carried an opponents' batting average of .200. Faue completed his senior season with a 4.18 earned run average and a career-high 54 strikeouts.
John Matthews, Kent State
RHP, Sophomore, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (Punxsutawney)
Matthews picked up his third save Friday to help Kent State clinch the 2018 regular season championship. He worked three hitless innings for the Golden Flashes, striking out two. He entered the game in the seventh inning with runners at second and third and no one out and KSU up 2-0. He held the lead with a clutch strikeout and the Flashes went on to win, 7-1.
