BRADFORD, Pa. -- Junior catcher Austin Parent of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford baseball team capped off his week of accolades as he was voted the HEROSports.com D3 HERO of the Week, officials announced Friday.
Parent received 1,839 of the 4,346 total votes (42.31 percent). The Pitt-Bradford community came out in full force to help him edge out the next-highest vote winner by 78 votes.
.@austinparent_05, your fans sure showed up this week...
— HERO Sports Baseball (@HEROSportsBSB) April 20, 2018
Say hello to the newest #D3Baseball HERO of the Week!
--> https://t.co/5l6GKemNdl #NCAAD3 pic.twitter.com/AGmllbqrtg
The Gilbert, Ariz., native is the third Panther to win this national award for his respective sport, as Ali Rinfrette of the women's basketball team won it twice and Madison East captured the win for softball just one week ago.
This is the third national Player of the Week honor for Parent, who was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division III Player of the Week and the catcher for the D3Baseball.com Team of the Week.
In addition, he is the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference's Player of the Week.
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.
Pitt-Bradford is set to play its first home game of the season Saturday as Medaille comes to town for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
