Texas Border Business
RIO GRANDE VALLEY – Collegiate Baseball announced on Monday that, for the second week in a row, junior right fielder Freddy Rojas Jr. of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) baseball team is one of its national players of the week.
Rojas extended his home run streak to six games by hitting solo shots on Thursday and Friday at Dallas Baptist, a team receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches and NCBWA polls. The streak came to an end two shy of the NCAA record when Rojas hit two doubles and walked three times in five plate appearances on Saturday.
Although Rojas had a 13-game hitting streak snapped Sunday, he walked to extend his on-base streak to 14 games.
For the week, Rojas hit .333 (4-for-12) with two home runs, two doubles, five walks, two RBI, three runs scored, a stolen bases, a .556 on-base percentage and a 1.000 slugging percentage.
For the season, Rojas is hitting a team-best .370 (20-for-54) with a team-high six home runs, five doubles, 15 RBI, 11 runs scored, a team-best .500 on-base percentage and a team-best .796 slugging percentage in 19 games (15 starts).
Other Collegiate Baseball National Players of the Week, Powered by Diamond
RHP Jack Leiter, Vanderbilt: Leiter has not allowed a hit in his last 16 innings of work. Against Missouri last Friday, he no-hit the Tigers for the first 7 innings before he was pulled. He struck out 10. Leiter pitched a 9-inning no-hitter against South Carolina one week earlier with 16 strikeouts during a 5-0 win. He walked the first batter of the game on a full count and then retired 27 batters in a row. Of his 124 pitches, 81 were strikes. In his last two outings, he has struck out 26 batters in 16 innings.
RHP Scott Randall, Sacramento State: Randall tied the school single-game record with 14 strikeouts over seven innings during a 9-3 win over Dixie State. He was efficient as he threw 69 strikes in 96 pitches.
RHP Nick Durgin, Stetson: Durgin struck out 14 Florida Gulf Coast batters over 8 innings. At one point, he retired 12 consecutive hitters in a row. He closed out his night by striking out the final three batters he faced. The 14 strikeouts were the most in a game for a Stetson pitcher since Mitchell Senger had 16 strikeouts against George Washington in his 2018 no-hitter.
1B Alex Binelas, Louisville: Binelas went 7-for-10 in three games last week with 10 RBI as he hit 2 homers and 2 triples.
OF Chase Keng, UTSA: Kent belted 3 home runs and a double with 9 RBI as he was 8-for-15 at the plate. He had a 1.200 slugging percentage on the week.
