INDIANAPOLIS – It was shared honors for both current unbeatens in the league as Great Midwest Athletic Conference Baseball Players of the Week awards were announced on Tuesday afternoon.
Ohio Dominican, picked just middle of the pack in the conference preseason coaches poll, is off to an 8-0 start following a four-game sweep vs. Fairmont State. Although a smaller sample size, Trevecca Nazarene's 3-0 start was highlighted with a series sweep vs. Southern Indiana to start the coaching tenure of Chase Sain.
Six other programs are sporting records of even .500 or better through the early part of the season. Kentucky Wesleyan and Tiffin each beat No. 16 nationally-ranked Ashland, a future member of the conference coming in next year.
Player of the Week
Jace Komminsk
Ohio Dominican
Outfield/Catcher
Graduate Student
Westerville, OH (Thomas Worthington HS)
Ohio Dominican has been running absolutely wild on the base paths and generated some more impressive offensive numbers to stay undefeated through the weekend. The Panthers scored four straight victories over Fairmont State.
Opposing pitching wanted nothing to do with the graduate student as he batted .600 (6-10) while drawing six walks and lacing four extra-base hits. He recorded 7 RBI and scored as many runs as ODU raced out to the program's best start while in the Division II era (2011-present).
Coming off of a three-hit game to end the opening weekend series vs. Notre Dame (OH) and Findlay, Komminsk promptly unloaded for his first homer and doubled while going 3-for-3 at the dish.
In the next game, Komminsk had three more RBI, doubled again and scored twice while drawing another free pass. In a 10-3 victory for ODU, he doubled and scored twice while getting walked twice.
Komminsk had a very nice streak of five doubles in just four games and has a current streak of a walk in four consecutive contests.
Komminsk is off to a torrid start for the Panthers while batting .417 with 12 RBI and nine runs scored in eight games played.
Pitcher of the Week
Drew Pierce
Trevecca Nazarene
RHP
RS Junior
Kingsport, TN (Dobyns-Bennett HS / Walters State
Pierce has always had front-of-the-rotation type stuff and was virtually untouchable in a Midwest Region win vs. Southern Indiana in his first turn on the mound.
The 6-5 righty allowed just one hit in five innings while striking out seven. He received the winning decision in an 11-2 Trevecca Nazarene win and walked three.
He worked a strong game with the back end of the Trojans' bullpen as Davis Jackson logged 3.2 IP and Tiger Cox retired the final out as the TNU offense manufactured 11 runs on 12 hits.
Pierce redshirted during the 2019-20 academic year and carries all-conference pedigree as the league leader in strikeouts during the 2018 spring.