DALLAS – Junior Austin Parent of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford baseball team has received the highest weekly award as he was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division III Player of the Week for his performance during games played April 9-15, officials announced Wednesday.
"What a great accomplishment for Austin," Head Coach Zach Foster said. "He is starting to understand all that goes into being a great college baseball player. He has always had a lot of natural talent but his preparation, his work ethic and his fire to compete and win have taken extreme strides over the last couple seasons. Congratulations to AP, very well deserved after the week he had."
Founded in 1962, the NCBWA is dedicated to the advancement of college baseball. Membership is open to writers, broadcasters, and publicists of the sport. Members receive a membership card, directory, newsletter updates and official votes in the Dick Howser Player of the Year Award, Regional Player of the Year and NCBWA All-America voting. The NCBWA also sponsors preseason All-America awards, publication and writing contests.
The NCBWA releases weekly players, pitchers and rookies of the week for each NCAA division, as well as various postseason awards at all levels.
The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference cleaned up the weekly NCBWA Division III awards as Penn State-Behrend's Jack Herzing was honored as Pitcher of the Week.
Earlier this week, Parent was named to D3Baseball.com's Team of the Week as the catcher. He is also a finalist for HEROSports.com's D3 HERO of the Week.
The Gilbert, Ariz., native is the AMCC Player of the Week as well.
Parent hit five home runs and knocked in 14 RBIs in five games as part of his stellar week.
Two of his home runs were grand slams, and he hit three homers in one day during the doubleheader at Pitt-Greensburg Saturday.
He scored at least one run in each game, totaling 13 overall.
In all, he went 13-for-23 (.565) while walking twice and stealing a base.
His power numbers helped the Panthers to a 4-1 week in conference games.
With seven extra-base hits, his slugging percentage for the weekend was an off-the-charts 1.304.
On the season, Parent leads the conference with a .863 slugging percentage and .571 on-base percentage. His 30 RBIs and .466 batting average both rank second in the AMCC.
The Panthers hold a 4-3 mark in AMCC play and a 10-9 record overall.
