DALLAS (NCBWA) – Student-athletes from teams in the Mideast Region claimed two of this week’s National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Div. III awards, while a near no-no took home this week’s Pitcher of the Week honor. This week’s honorees were recognized for performances spanning March 9-15, and they are the final awards for the 2020 season.

Hitter of the Weel: Aaron Spidell, a senior outfielder for the 21st-ranked College of Wooster, earned the North Coast Athletic Conference’s Hitter of the Week honor after stringing together a 15-for-25 (.600) week with 11 runs, 10 RBI, three walks, two doubles, two stolen bases, and his first collegiate homer. Spidell had five multi-hit games, which were headlined by a 4-for-6 afternoon with three RBI, two runs, and a stolen base, as Wooster beat 15th-ranked Marietta College 13-12 on Saturday. Spidell went 2-for-2 with two runs scored, two walks, and hit his first collegiate homer against Swarthmore College and was 4-for-4 with four runs scored against Alfred State College.

Honorable Mention Hitter: Patrick Blackall, So., 1B/3B, Rochester Institute of Technology – Hit .684 (13-of-19) in four games in Florida last week. He scored six runs and drove in eight to go along with six doubles and a home run. On Monday, Blackall went 3-for-5 with two RBI, two runs scored, a double, and a home run in a loss to Beloit College. He went 2-for-3 in a loss to Rhode Island College, and was 4-for-6 with three RBI, three doubles, and three runs scored in a win over Husson University. Blackall completed the week going 4-for-5 with two RBI, two runs scored, and two doubles in a loss to Wells College.

Pitcher of the Week: Colby-Sawyer College sophomore Kaelen Close tossed a one-hit shutout during his team’s 12-0 win over D’Youville College last week. The sophomore, who struck out 10, was one strike away from the no-hitter, but D’Youville’s Logan Lipowski singled to center to break up the bid. Close retired the next batter for the complete-game one-hitter.

Honorable Mention Pitcher: Zach Kemp, Sr., Wells College – Named the North Eastern Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week after hurling seven innings of scoreless ball in a 3-0 victory against Vassar College on Tuesday. The senior came within one strikeout of matching the school record for strikeouts in a game with 13 and allowed just five hits and walked two.

Rookie of the Week: Washington & Jefferson College’s Tyler Horvat pitched the Presidents to an 8-0 win over sixth-ranked Washington University in St. Louis during W&J’s spring break trip in Florida. He threw eight shutout innings against the Bears, only allowing five hits and two walks, while registering four strikeouts. He also smacked a single against 25th-ranked Wheaton College (Mass.) on Thursday.

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2020 NCBWA Division III Players of the Week:
• Week ending Feb. 23: Devin Hooper, Schreiner (Hitter); Ian McCole, Misericordia (Pitcher); Jackson Balzan, Salisbury (Rookie)
• Week ending March 1: Derek Hurt, Maryville (Hitter); Ryan Boyer, Pitt-Bradford (Pitcher); Ian Metzger, William Paterson (Rookie)
• Week ending March 8: Michael Leri, Lebanon Valley (Hitter); Matthew D’Ambrosia, Muhlenberg (Pitcher); Rian Schwede, Endicott and Harutaro Takahashi, New England College (Rookie)
• Week ending March 15: Aaron Spidell, College of Wooster (Hitter); Kaelen Close, Colby-Sawyer (Pitcher); Tyler Horvat, Washington & Jefferson (Rookie)