Seton Hall’s Dana, Xavier’s Gellenbeck Earn BIG EAST Baseball Weekly Honors
NEW YORK – Xavier, Seton Hall and Villanova each earned series victories this weekend over Creighton, St. John’s and Georgetown respectively. Xavier clinched one of the three spots left in the 2016 BIG EAST Championship field and are tied with Creighton for first in the league at 11-4.
For helping the Muskeeters take two from Creighton, Xavier’s Joe Gellenbeck was named BIG EAST Player of the Week. Seton Hall’s Cullen Dana pitched a complete game shutout to win the series against St. John’s.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Joe Gellenbeck, Xavier, Jr., 1B, Lebanon, Ohio
Helped the Musketeers earn the series victory over Creighton with back-to-back walk off hits. Gellenbeck batted .500 (6-for-12) with nine total bases in the series, with three runs scored, a home run and five RBI. The junior also walked twice to post a .571 on-base percentage. On Saturday, Gellenbeck went 2-for-4 with a walk-off single through the left side to tie the series. On Sunday, he sent a home run to right field to win the game in a dramatic fashion, finishing the day 3-for-5. He also added a stolen base.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Cullen Dana, Seton Hall, Fr., LHP, Montgomery, N.Y.
Freshman Dana tossed a complete-game shutout on Sunday to win the series against St. John’s and help the Pirates stay in the running for a BIG EAST Championship berth. Dana scattered just five hits against the Red Storm, who leads the conference in batting. The rookie struck out seven batters and didn’t issue a walk. He improved to 6-2 on the season and lowered his ERA to 2.81.
BIG EAST Baseball Weekly Honor Roll
Chris Maranto, Butler, RS-Jr., UTIL
Maranto went 5-for-8 (.625) with two triples and four RBI in a weekend series against Mercer.
Alex Baumer, Georgetown, So., INF/OF
Went 6-for-13 (.462) with a double, triple, seven RBI, a walk and a stolen base. Baumer had multi-hit and multi-RBI performances in all three games he appeared in for the week.
Zach Weigel, Seton Hall, Sr., OF
Batted .625 with 10 hits, six RBI, a home run, four stolen bases and a .812 slugging percentage as the Pirates won three of four games, including a series win against St. John’s. He had seven hits in the series against St. John’s, including the homer.
Max Beerman, Villanova, Sr., 1B
Batted .571 (8-for-14) with three-straight multi-hit games during a series win at Georgetown. Beerman scored six runs with four RBI, a double, home run and walk for the week. Beerman did not strike out in 19 plate appearances over games.
Rylan Bannon, Xavier, So., 3B
Tied for team high with a .500 average (4-for-8), three runs scored and a home run in a series win against Creighton. Led XU with five walks for a .714 on-base percentage.