In 2011, the Big 12 introduced a new award for baseball, the Newcomer of the Week. Since its inception, no team has been able to claim all three of the weekly awards (Player of the Week, Pitcher of the Week, and Newcomer of the Week) until now. The Mountaineers pulled off a historic sweep, claiming all three awards for games played from April 26 - May 1. The Mountaineers finished the week at 3-1 with wins over Marshall and two wins over Baylor, including a 10-0 shutout in the first game of the series.
Player of the Week - Jackson Cramer
The Texas native Cramer led the Mountaineers in batting average (.615), hits (8), RBI (10) and on-base percentage (.688) on the week with his average and RBI marks the tops in the Big 12. In four games, the junior totaled three multi-hit and multi-RBI outings. Cramer drove in the winning run in WVU’s 9-8 victory over rival Marshall on Wednesday in a three-hit, four-RBI day. He added three hits and four RBI in the series opener vs. Baylor and added two hits and two RBI in the finale.
Pitcher of the Week - Chad Donato
Donato was masterful on the mound in WVU’s 10-0 victory on Friday, throwing a two-hit, complete game shutout. It was WVU’s first complete game of the season and the second of Donato’s career. He held Baylor two hits with nine strikeouts and did not walk a batter. The sophomore threw 87 pitches and faced more than three batters in an inning just three times. BU did not advance a runner past first base all night and was held to a .067 batting average.
Newcomer of the Week - Ivan Vera
Vera hit .571 while leading the team with eight hits, a .929 slugging percentage, 13 total bases and three doubles. His four RBI doubled his career total coming into the week. Playing third base for the first time in his career, he started at the hot corner all four games and added several strong defensive plays. Vera had a hit in all four of WVU’s games last week and an RBI in all but one game. On the season, Vera is hitting .437 with 31 hits and eight RBI and a .535 slugging percentage. He has played in just 27 games with 21 starts.
The awards give the Mountaineers 8 awards in the young baseball season. It is the second time Cramer has claimed Player of the Week and the third time this season a WVU player has won Player of the Week. Donato is the second WVU pitcher to win Pitcher of the Week, after BJ Myers won it at the beginning of the season. Vera is also the second WVU player to win Newcomer of the Week after Kyle Gray won it previously on April 11.
Check out the highlights from the win against Marshall and the wins over Baylor in the tweets below.
ICYMI, WVU swept the season series vs Marshall w/ a 9-8 win last night. See how it happened: https://t.co/yektJJ5aWI https://t.co/iUePX4ilPb
— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) April 28, 2016
A complete-game shutout with 9 strikeouts and 10 runs scored leads to plenty of highlights.
— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) April 30, 2016
WATCH: https://t.co/0T3HY2xVtY
Check out the highlights from today's series-clinching, 5-1 victory over Baylor: https://t.co/SEt7IyRJRn
— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) April 30, 2016