SDSU’s Coppola, WIU’s Church Capture #SummitBSB Honors
SDSU’s Coppola, WIU’s Church Capture #SummitBSB Honors
ELMHURST, Ill. – South Dakota State outfield Zach Coppola was named The Summit League Baseball Player of the Week while Western Illinois starting pitcher Preston Church was selected as the league's Pitcher of the Week for their performances March 2-8.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Zach Coppola, South Dakota State
Jr., OF
Windsor Heights, Iowa // Dowling Catholic
Coppola captures the Player of the Week award after leading South Dakota State to a four-game series win at Southern. The junior outfielder had a trio of three-hit games, including going 4-for-5 in the series finale. He started the series off with a 3-for-5 performance and then belted a triple with three hits in game three of the series. For the week, Coppola hit .625 (10-for-16) with four RBI, three runs scored and a triple. He had a pair of walks and stolen bases while slugging .750 with a .632 on-base percentage. In addition, he raised his season batting average 124 points from .276 to .400 during the week.
Also nominated: Greg Kaiser, Fort Wayne; Juan Gamez, North Dakota State; Ryan Cate, Omaha; Jake Moore, Western Illinois.
Previous honorees: Feb. 16 – Shane Trevino, IPFW; Feb. 23 – Brandon Soat, IPFW/Anthony Sequeira, ORU; March 2 – Reid Clary, SDSU.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Preston Church, Western Illinois
So., LHP
Ogden, Iowa // Ogden
Church earns Pitcher of the Week honors after tossing eight scoreless innings in a win over Missouri Valley foe Evansville. The sophomore lefty collected a career-high eight strikeouts and surrendered just five singles in the 3-0 victory. On the year, Church is holding opponents to a .197 batting average.
Also nominated: Evan Miller, Fort Wayne; Parker Trewin, North Dakota State; Zach Williamsen, Omaha; Xavier Altamirano, Oral Roberts; Adam Bray, South Dakota State.
Previous honorees: Feb. 16 – Kyler Stout, ORU; Feb. 23 – Zach Williamsen, UNO; March 2 – Tyler Hamer, UNO.
ABOUT THE SUMMIT LEAGUE
In its fourth decade of Division I athletics, The Summit League offers 19 championship sports and has a combined enrollment of over 120,000 at nine institutions, including four located in top 60 U.S. metro populations and two land-grant universities. Member institutions include: Denver (University of Denver), Fort Wayne (Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne), IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis), North Dakota State University, Omaha (University of Nebraska Omaha), Oral Roberts 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 eight NCAA Champions along with over 65 All-Americans, 60 Academic All-America selections and numerous former student-athletes competing at the highest professional level. For more information about the league and to "See The Summit", visit www.thesummitleague.org, follow on Twitter @thesummitleague, download The Summit League's Front Row app, and watch the weekly "Inside The Summit League" show at www.thesummitleague.org/itsl.
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