DALLAS (NCBWA) – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released its National Player of the Week awards for the period ending March 8. USC senior infielder Dante Flores was named National Hitter of the Week, while Connecticut senior right-handed pitcher Carson Cross was named National Pitcher of the Week. The NCBWA Board reviews candidates from each Division I Conference each week and names winners each Tuesday throughout the season.

Flores, a senior from Norwalk, Calif., had an outstanding week as the Trojans went 3-1, including a weekend sweep of the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic where they defeated No. 7 TCU, 7-6 in 12-innings, No. 1 Vanderbilt, 6-5, and No. 6 UCLA, 8-4 at Dodger Stadium. Overall on the week, Flores went 7-for-16 with three runs scored, two doubles, one home run and three runs driven in.

Against TCU, Flores went 3-for-3 with one run scored, one double and one sac bunt. Then on Saturday against Vanderbilt, Flores went 1-for-4, with his one hit being a towering home run off the scoreboard in right field. At Dodger Stadium on Sunday against rival UCLA, the second baseman went 3-for-5 with one run scored and one RBI. Flores came through in the seventh inning of that game with his second hit of the day, launching one off the top of the wall in right field, for a stand-up double. He drove in one run and came around to score as the Trojans broke open the game up to make the score 8-4. The Trojans are now 15-1 on the season, their best start since 1988.

Cross went the distance and allowed a run on two hits in a 4-1 win at FIU on Friday night. The Brentwood, N.H. native did not walk a batter and fanned 15, the most strikeouts for any pitcher in a game in Jim Penders' 12-year helm of the program.

After FIU recorded a leadoff double, Cross retired 27 of the next 29 Panthers he faced in the complete-game performance. Included in the run were 18 in a row retired between the first and sixth innings. Cross struck out the side in the fifth, sixth and ninth innings and had multiple punch-outs in the third and fifth frames.

Founded in 1962, the NCBWA is dedicated to the advancement of college baseball. Membership is open to writers, broadcasters and publicists of the sport. For more information about the NCBWA, visit the association's official Web site, www.ncbwa.com.

For more information on the NCBWA Division I National Players of the Week, contact NCBWA Assistant Executive Director Mike Montoro at West Virginia University at 304-293-2821.

2015 NCBWA Division I Players of the Week:
• Feb. 15: Eric Gutierrez, Texas Tech (Hitter); Luke Gillingham, Navy (Pitcher)
• Feb. 22: KJ Harrison, Oregon State (Hitter); Preston Morrison, TCU (Pitcher)
• March 1: Braden Bishop, Washington (Hitter); Alex Robinett, Army (Pitcher)
• March 8: Dante Flores, USC (Hitter); Carson Cross, Connecticut (Pitcher)
• March 15: David Thompson, Miami (Hitter); Chris Chism, Tennessee Tech (Pitcher)
• March 22: DJ Stewart, Florida State (Hitter); Drew Rasmussen, Oregon State (Pitcher)
• March 29: Chris Shaw, Boston College (Hitter); James McMahon, Southern Miss (Pitcher)
• April 5: Christin Stewart, Tennessee (Hitter); James Reeves, The Citadel (Pitcher)
• April 12: JJ Schwarz, Florida (Hitter); Anthony Kay, Connecticut (Pitcher)
• April 26: Kevin Kaczmarski, Evansville (Hitter); Kevin Hill, South Alabama (Pitcher)
• May 5: Clayton Meyer, Morehead State and Bryce Greager, Nevada (Hitter); Matt Hall, Missouri State (Pitcher)
• May 12: Jeff Boehm, UIC (Hitter); Thomas Eshelman, Cal State Fullerton (Pitcher)
• May 19: Tyler Lawrence, Murray State (Hitter); James Kaprielian, UCLA (Pitcher)