INDIANAPOLIS – Kentucky Wesleyan raked in Great Midwest Athletic Conference Baseball Players of the Week awards to represent the South Division as announced on Tuesday morning.
The Panthers are on a six-game win streak, rounding into form that the program hopes will aid in a title run to defend KWC’s championship trophy brought home a year ago.
The Panthers were a combined 6-0 against Urbana and Oakland City over the past week as they improved to 10-7 overall in the spring season.
South Division Player of the Week
Joseph Burke
Kentucky Wesleyan
First Base
Sophomore
Jeffersonville, IN (Jeffersonville HS)
Burke went through an unprecedented power surge in all forms as the sophomore slugger terrorized pitching from the staffs of Urbana and Oakland City with 11 extra-base hits.
Burke homered in five consecutive games, drove in 15 of his teammates and scored 12 times. He also had three doubles and walked once.
Burke smashed three home runs in the second game of a doubleheader against Oakland City on Tuesday, tying a single-game conference record shared with last week’s South Division and NCBWA Midwest Region Player of the Week Chuck Hooker (Alderson Broaddus).
He had six RBI with three runs scored as part of a 3-for-4 line at the plate
All told, Burke belted a total of eight home runs in just six games and he went 13-for-22 at the plate for a batting average of .591. His slugging percentage of 1.818 was through the stratosphere as he led all players from both divisions.
After hitting three bombs on the road, Burke returned home in Owensboro and enjoyed another multi-homer game to start a four-game set against Urbana.
Burke is now hitting .323 on the season with a conference-leading 10 home runs and 56 total bases. His 24 RBI ranks second to teammate Andrew Kirkland, who has 25 driven in.
South Division Picher of the Week
Sammy Holder
Kentucky Wesleyan
RHP
Senior
Vanceburg, KY (Lewis County HS)
Holder has developed into a frontline starter in the Kentucky Wesleyan rotation for head coach Todd Lillpop since receiving Great Midwest Freshman of the Year honors in 2015.
Wearing #0, Holder held Urbana to that number on the scoreboard as he blanked the Blue Knights over seven scoreless innings for a complete-game shutout.
He struck out eight hitters and scattered six hits while walking one.
Holder has been nothing short of dynamic in five appearances on the hill this year, putting together a 3-0 win-loss record with a 1.14 ERA.
He has 20 strikeouts across 23.2 innings pitched and has been touched for just three earned runs this spring.
With 18 career wins, Holder now ranks fourth all-time in Great Midwest history and his career ERA of 3.94 also ranks fourth (among all players with at least 150 innings pitched).