SDSU's Melton, NDSU's Straka Capture Weekly Baseball Awards
SDSU's Melton, NDSU's Straka Capture Weekly Baseball Awards
ELMHURST, Ill. – South Dakota State's Andrew Melton was named The Summit League's Baseball Player of the Week while North Dakota State's John Straka was selected as the league's Pitcher of the Week for their performances Feb. 18-24.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Andrew Melton, South Dakota State
Sr., 3B
Littleton, Colo. // Dakota Ridge
Melton earns his first career Player of the Week award after leading South Dakota State to a 4-2 record last week. The senior infielder went 3-for-4 with a run scored in a 10-5 win over St. Bonaventure on Saturday. The next day, he recorded four hits, including a pair of doubles, with three RBI and two runs scored in a 12-7 win over the Bonnies. The Littleton, Colo., native also added two hits with a run and RBI in two games against Ohio State. For the week, Melton hit .429 (9-for-21) with a .480 on-base percentage and .571 slugging percentage with five runs scored, four RBI, three doubles and two walks.
Also nominated: Markus Kalber, Fort Wayne; Jon Hechtner, North Dakota State; Jared Theisen, Oakland; Dan Dispensa, Western Illinois.
Previous honorees: 2/18 – Markus Kalber, IPFW.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
John Straka, North Dakota State
Sr., RHP
Chaska, Minn. // Chaska
Straka collects his second-straight Pitcher of the Week honor and sixth of his career after tossing seven innings and earning the win in game one of the three-game set at Southeast Missouri State on Friday. The senior surrendered five singles in the game, had five strikeouts, one walk and no earned runs. On the year, Straka is 2-0 and has not allowed an earned run in 16 innings of work. He has also collected 11 strikeouts and held opponents to a .127 batting average on the year.
Also nominated: Chuck Weaver, Fort Wayne; Chris Van Dyke, Oakland; Adam Bray, South Dakota State.
Previous honorees: 2/18 – John Straka, NDSU/Mason Pingel, WIU.
ABOUT THE SUMMIT LEAGUE
Entering its fourth decade of Division I athletics, The Summit League offers 19 championship sports and has a combined enrollment of over 144,000 at nine universities, four of which are located in top 58 U.S. metro populations (Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City and Omaha). Member institutions include: Fort Wayne (Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne), IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis), Kansas City (University of Missouri-Kansas City), Omaha (University of Nebraska Omaha), North Dakota State University, Oakland University, the University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University and Western Illinois University. Previously known as the Mid-Continent Conference, The Summit League rebranded in 2007 and has since produced 54 All-Americans, 37 Academic All-America selections and seven NCAA Championships. For more information about the league and its history, visit www.thesummitleague.org to "See The Summit" or follow on Twitter @thesummitleague.
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