TCCC Baseball Players of the Week (May 3, 2010)

PLAYER OF THE WEEK –  Western New England College senior shortstop Justin Walz (Groton, Conn.) batted .480 (12-for-25) with one double, six RBI and five runs scored over six TCCC Tournament games and played a key role in the Golden Bears claiming a third-consecutive TCCC championship.  Walz recorded five multiple-hit games in the tournament and drew an impressive eight bases on balls to push his tournament on-base percentage to .606.  Walz reached base in all six TCCC Tournament games and drove in at least one run in five different contests.  He notched two hits and an RBI in WNEC’s 8-5 victory over Salve Regina in the championship game.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK –  Western New England College senior Matt Rogers (Portsmouth, R.I.) was the winning pitcher in two elimination games and also worked out of the bullpen in WNEC’s 8-5 victory over Salve Regina in the TCCC Championship contest.  He opened the week by allowing just two earned runs in 6-2/3 innings of work en route to a win the Golden Bears’ 8-4 win over Eastern Nazarene in gale force winds on Wednesday.  Three days later, Rogers gutted out 8-2/3 innings in a WNEC’s 12-7 victory over Endicott that forced the day’s second slugfest between the two rivals.  After throwing more than 120 pitches in that game, Rogers worked one inning in relief during the TCCC Championship tilt.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK – Western New England College freshman second baseman Mike Rubino (Northford, Conn.) batted a stellar .520 (13-for-25) with four doubles, one home run, seven RBI and seven runs scored in six TCCC Championship Tournament games.  He batted safely in five of the Golden Bears’ six contests and registered a pair of four-hit games.  Rubino went 4-for-4 with two RBI in WNEC’s first victory of the tournament, an 8-4 victory over Eastern Nazarene.  He added a 4-for-6, one home run, three-RBI showing in a 15-14 victory over Endicott that propelled WNEC into the title game.  Rubino added two hits in WNEC’s 8-5 triumph over Salve Regina in the title contest.

Note: To view the complete news release, please visit http://www.thecommonwealthcoastconference.com/sports/releases0910/may3.pdf  You will need to have Adobe Acrobat reader installed on your computer to view the file.