DALLAS (NCBWA) – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released its Dick Howser Trophy National Player of the Week awards presented by The Game Headwear for the period ending April 20. Bowling Green senior infielder Gunner Antillon and Notre Dame sophomore catcher Carson Tinney were named National Co-Hitter of the Week, while UC Santa Barbara sophomore right-handed pitcher Jackson Flora and Kentucky senior right-handed pitcher Nic McCay were named National Co-Pitchers of the Week. The NCBWA Board reviews candidates from each Division I Conference and names winners each Tuesday throughout the season.
Antillon was red hot at the plate for the Falcons this week, batting .700 with only one strikeout. He led the Falcons with 14 hits and 12 RBI, totaling 25 bases over four games to notch a 1.250 slugging percentage. The Rancho Cucamonga, California native, belted his first two home runs of the season and added five doubles over the course of the week, while scoring six times. Antillon tallied at least three hits in all four of BGSU's games this week while scoring himself and logging at least RBI in each contest as well.
He started the week with four hits against Purdue Fort Wayne, including a home run and two doubles resulting in four RBI and a run scored. He followed it up against Ball State in game one with another home run and another pair of doubles, adding an RBI and two runs scored. He lifted those numbers in game two to a season-high five RBI and two runs scored, with one double. He ended his weekend with another three hits, two RBI and run scored, while drawing two walks.
Tinney hit .750 (9-for-12) throughout Notre Dame’s sweep of Stanford with nine hits, two doubles, four home runs, seven RBI and 10 runs scored. The Castle Pines, Colorado native, posted an .800 on-base percentage with a 1.917 slugging percentage and was 4-for-4 on runners caught stealing. The Notre Dame backstop went 5-for-5 in the series finale with a double, a home run, an RBI and four runs scored as the Irish finished the road sweep. It marked new career-highs for Tinney in hits and runs scored in a game.
Additionally, he is the first Irish hitter since 2011 to go 5-for-5 in a game. For the week, the Castle Pine, Colorado, native hit .667 (10-for-15) with 10 hits, 11 runs, two doubles, five home runs, five walks and nine RBI. He also posted a 1.800 slugging percentage and a .750 on-base percentage as the Irish went 4-0.
Flora held Cal Poly to one hit and struck out nine en route to collecting all 27 outs and securing a series win in the rubber match. The Pleasanton, California native, carried a no-hit bid into the fifth, then retired 15 of the final 16 batters he faced to complete the first one-hitter by a Santa Barbara pitcher since 2011.
Flora's complete game shutout is the second in as many years for the Gauchos, with Ryan Gallagher firing a two-hit shutout exactly 365 days prior, on April 19, 2024 at UC Davis. Flora's is also the third complete game thrown by a Santa Barbara starter in the last year, with Tyler Bremner throwing nine innings of one-run ball at Cal State Bakersfield last May. Saturday's outing was the fourth great day in a row for Flora, who has a 0.62 ERA in his last 29 innings of work, striking out 27 hitters in hat span.
McCay did not allow an earned run and surrendered just two hits in 7.2 innings Saturday in the Wildcats’ 4-1 win at No. 2 Tennessee. The Carlisle, Iowa native’s 12 strikeouts were the most by a UK pitcher in two years and the most by any pitcher against Tennessee this season. McCay did not allow a hit after the third inning. He retired 17 of 18 in stretch from the third to the eighth inning, including 12 in a row, allowing only a walk.
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