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Baseball Sweeps Big 12 Athletes of the Week
May 02, 2016 04:53 PM | Baseball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Coming off a 3-1 week, the West Virginia University baseball team was rewarded with a historic sweep of the Big 12 Conference weekly awards.
Junior first baseman Jackson Cramer was named the Big 12 Player of the Week, junior right-hander Chad Donato was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week and freshman catcher/third baseman Ivan Vera was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week.
West Virginia is the first team to win all three awards in one week since the Newcomer of the Week award was established in 2011.
The weekly accolades bring WVU’s total to eight, the most in a single season since the Mountaineers joined the Big 12 for the 2013 season. Cramer was recognized for the second time this season, while Donato and Vera earned their first career Big 12 weekly accolades.
Cramer led the Big 12 in batting average (.615) and RBIs (10), while he led the team in hits (8) and on-base percentage (.688) last week. In WVU’s four games, the junior totaled three multi-hit and multi-RBI outings. Cramer drove in the winning run in West Virginia’s 9-8 victory over rival Marshall on Wednesday in a three-hit, four-RBI day. He added three hits and four RBIs in the series opener vs. Baylor and accounted for four of WVU’s five runs in the finale with two hits and two RBIs.
Donato was masterful on the mound in WVU’s 10-0 victory on Friday. He threw a two-hit, complete game shutout, WVU’s first complete game of the season and the second of Donato’s career. He held Baylor to 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.
Vera hit .571 while leading the team with a eight hits, a .929 slugging percentage, 13 total bases and three doubles. His four RBIs 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. On the year, 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.
WVU is back in action on Tuesday, May 3 against Virginia Tech. First pitch at Monongalia County Ballpark is set for 6:30 p.m. ET. It will be the first ever Stripe the Park, where fans sitting in even sections are encouraged to wear blue, and fans sitting in odd sections should wear gold. Complete details about Stripe the Park can be found at WVUSports.com/StripeThePark.
Single game tickets for the 2016 WVU baseball season are on sale now. Fans can join the excitement of WVU baseball and contribute to the home field advantage at Monongalia County Ballpark by calling 1-800-WVU GAME, purchasing tickets at WVUGAME.com or visiting the Mountaineer Ticket Office at Gate A of Monongalia County Ballpark. More information on single game tickets and can be found at WVUsports.com, while flex plan ticket information is available here.
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