Keele, Skrbec, Heck, Fox Earn Final Baseball Weekly Awards
Keele, Skrbec, Heck, Fox Earn Final Baseball Weekly Awards
ELMHURST, Ill. – North Dakota State's John Skrbec and Omaha's Ryan Keele were named The Summit League's Baseball Players of the Week while North Dakota State's Jake Heck and Omaha's Tyler Fox earned Pitchers of the Week for performances May 13-19. The honors mark the final awards of the season.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
John Skrbec, North Dakota State
So., IF
Grand Rapids, Minn. // Grand Rapids
Skrbec earns his first career Player of the Week award after connecting on a pair of game-winning home runs. In game one on Tuesday, the sophomore had a triple and home run, the first of his collegiate career, with three RBI in a win over South Dakota State. In the four-game weekend sweep of Fort Wayne, he belted a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning of game one Friday, to clinch a postseason berth for the Bison. For the weekend, Skrbec hit .348 (8-for-23) with seven RBI, six runs scored two homers a triple and a stolen base. He had a .696 slugging percentage and .360 on-base percentage in the six games.
Ryan Keele, Omaha
Sr., OF
Bellevue, Neb. // Northwestern State Univ.
Keele captures his third-straight Player of the Week award and fourth this season after helping Omaha clinch its first Summit League regular season title and initial Division I conference championship in any sport. The senior hit a two-run walk-off homer, clinching the title for the Mavs, in the game one win over South Dakota State Friday. For the week, Keele batted .429 (9-for-21) with seven RBI, five runs scored, two stolen bases, a home run and a double. He added a pair of sacrifices with a .6t19 slugging percentage and .500 on-base percentage.
Also nominated: Robby Enslen, Oakland; Neil DeCook, Western Illinois.
Previous honorees: 2/18 – Markus Kalber, IPFW; 2/25 – Andrew Melton, SDSU; 3/4 – Andrew Melton, SDSU; 3/11 – Nolan Jacoby, OU; 3/18 – Ryan Keele, UNO; 3/25 – Caleb Fenimore, IPFW; 4/1 – Daniel Telford, SDSU; 4/8 – Brett Bass, UNO; 4/15 – Daniel Telford, SDSU; 4/22 – Clay Hathaway, IPFW; 4/29 – Tyler Splichal, UNO; 5/6 – Ryan Keele, UNO; 5/13 – Ryan Keele, UNO.
PITCHERS OF THE WEEK
Jake Heck, North Dakota State
Sr., LHP
Fergus Falls, Minn. // Itasca CC
Heck registers his first career Pitcher of the Week award after notching a pair of wins over South Dakota State and Fort Wayne. The senior tossed a career-high three innings in relief in the 11-10 win over the Jackrabbits. He followed that with four scoreless innings and a career-high four strikeouts in his first career start in the 6-2 win over the Mastodons Saturday. On the week, Heck pitched seven innings with two victories, no runs, six hits and four strikeouts.
Tyler Fox, Omaha
Fr., RHP
Thornton, Colo. // Mountain Range
Fox records his first career Pitcher of the Week honor after throwing seven scoreless innings in a 6-0 win over South Dakota State. The freshman was credited with the win, which helped clinched Omaha's first Summit League regular season title and first Division I conference championship in school history. Fox surrendered just three Jackrabbit hits, all singles, and had five strikeouts.
Also nominated: Russell Luxton, Jr., Oakland.
Previous honorees: 2/18 – John Straka, NDSU/Mason Pingel, WIU; 2/25 – John Straka, NDSU; 3/4 – David Ernst, NDSU; 3/11 – Tim Koons, OU; 3/18 – Layne Somsen, SDSU; 3/25 – Brian Loconsole, WIU; 4/1 – John Straka, NDSU; 4/8 – Matt Tew, UNO; 4/15 – Jason Kalber, IPFW/Stephen Bougher, SDSU; 4/22 – Tim Koons, OU; 4/29 – Stephen Bougher, SDSU/Aaron Michel, WIU; 5/6 – Steven Schoonover, UNO; 5/13 – Jason Hager, OU.
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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