DALLAS (NCBWA) – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association has its first repeat Div. III winner of the year, as Anna Maria College’s (Massachusetts) Nick Choate is the Rookie of the Week for the second time in the last four weeks. A perfect game and a seven-homer week captured the other Div. III honors for games played April 25–May 1.

HITTER OF THE WEEK
The College at Brockport, State University of New York utility star Tom Kretzler was the State University of New York Athletic Conference PrestoSports Baseball Athlete of the Week after helping the Golden Eagles finish 5-0 with wins over Saint John Fisher College (New York) (16-5), University of Rochester (New York) (14-1), and a three-game conference sweep of State University of New York at New Paltz (7-3, 14-4, 5-0). Kretzler finished the week 12-for-19 (.632) with 11 of his hits going for extra bases. Kretzler slugged seven home runs, three doubles, and one triple, and did not strike out over the five-game set. The graduate student logged a remarkable 17 RBI and 13 runs scored. He went 4-for-4 with three home runs, seven RBI, and a double in game two of the New Paltz series, while also holding the Hawks to two runs in six innings on the mound.

Honorable Mention Hitter: Ryan McCarty, Sr., SS, Penn State Abington (Pennsylvania) – United East Conference Player of the Week for the fifth time after helping team to 5-0 record on the week. Went 15-for-21 (.714) on the week with 18 RBI, 12 runs, nine walks, and five home runs. McCarty tied the NCAA Div. III record with four home runs in a 21-9 win over Gallaudet University (Washington, D.C.) on Saturday.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Tenth-ranked Webster University (Missouri) sophomore right-hander Alek Elges was named St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Diamond Sports Pitcher of the Week after putting his name in the Gorlok record book. Elges logged the program’s first-ever perfect game in a 5-0, nine-inning win over Greenville University (Illinois) on Saturday. The sophomore struck out seven in the win. On the week, Elges worked 10 perfect innings, as he fired a one-two-three ninth inning during Webster’s 10-8 come-from-behind win over Washington University in St. Louis (Missouri) on Wednesday.

Honorable Mention Pitcher: Bryce Crabb, Jr., P, University of Northwestern (Minnesota) – Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week after pitching 18 scoreless innings in three Eagle wins. Opened the week by recording the first Northwestern no-hitter since 2008 in a 6-0 win over University of Minnesota Morris on Monday. Worked two shutout innings on Friday in a 13-5 win against Northland College (Wisconsin) and returned to the bump on Saturday for seven shutout innings in an 11-0 win.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Anna Maria College (Massachusetts) first-year right-hander Nick Choate collected Great Northeast Athletic Conference Pitcher and Rookie of the Week honors after firing a complete-game shutout against conference rival Norwich University (Vermont) on Friday. Choate struck out 11 Cadets and allowed just two hits in seven innings. Through games played May 3, Choate is tops in Div. III with just 3.46 hits allowed per nine innings. He is also 10th nationally at 14.54 strikeouts per nine innings. Choate was previously the NCBWA Div. III Rookie of the Week for games played April 4-10, 2022.

Note: The NCBWA Div. III Hitter, Pitcher, and Rookie of the Week committee awards the Rookie of the Week honor to the next-highest vote getter in the event a rookie is selected as the Hitter or Pitcher of the Week, as is the case this week.

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2022 NCBWA Division III Players of the Week:
• February: Jack Thomson, Lewis & Clark (Hitter); Sayers Collins, East Texas Baptist (Pitcher); Andrew Gryniewicz, Lesley (Rookie)
• Week of March 6: Blake Bean, Kalamazoo (Hitter); Dominic Perachi, Salve Regina (Pitcher); Aiden Murphy, Wilkes (Rookie)
• Week of March 13: Joe Jimenez, Texas Lutheran (Hitter); Mike Schiattarella, Stockton (Pitcher); Anthony Runfola, Haverford (Rookie)
• Week of March 20: Mike Khoury, Brandeis (Hitter); Kieren Collins, Johns Hopkins (Pitcher); Joe Morrissey, Washington, Md. (Rookie)
• Week of March 27: Kamden Earley, Wabash (Hitter); Dalton Glenn, Buena Vista (Pitcher); Tyler Herrera, Centenary (Rookie)
• Week of April 3: Luke Broadhurst, Eastern Connecticut State (Hitter); Ismael Tatis, John Jay (Pitcher); Samuel Palmer, Westfield State (Rookie)
• Week of April 10: Andrew Bradley, Earlham (Hitter); Owen Boerema, Northwestern-St. Paul (Pitcher); Nick Choate, Anna Maria (Rookie)
• Week of April 17: Seth Betts, Crown (Hitter); Ben Smith, Worcester State (Pitcher); Jace Fetterman, Lebanon Valley (Rookie)
• Week of April 24: Sam Beers, Concordia (Hitter); Garrison Paillet, Thomas (Pitcher); Logan Nickel, Anderson (Rookie)
• Week of May 1: Tom Kretzler, SUNY-Brockport (Hitter); Alek Elges, Webster (Pitcher); Nick Choate, Anna Maria (Rookie)
• Week of May 8: Alex Baumann, Minnesota-Morris (Hitter); Sayers Collins, East Texas Baptist (Pitcher); Jacob Schaaf, Minnesota-Morris (Rookie)