COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – For the third consecutive week, a member of the Tennessee Tech baseball team put up numbers so good, that the Ohio Valley Conference had no choice but to recognize them for their performance. Junior Brandon Thomasson earned the honors this week, receiving adidas OVC Player of the Week honors for the second time this season.
In four games, Thomasson collected eight hits in 18 at-bats for a .444 average. The slugger blasted two home runs to bring his OVC-leading total to 10 on the year. He also recorded nine RBI and two doubles while scoring six times and putting together an .889 slugging percentage and .474 on-base percentage.
The junior was huge in Tech's massive victory of Eastern Illinois on Friday, a 20-5 win that had Thomasson's name all over it. The designated hitter recorded his first six-RBI game of the year, picking them up two at a time. In the third inning, Thomasson roped a double to left field, driving in two runs. Two innings later, he singled in two more with a line shot up the middle. He capped his huge performance with a two-run bomb in the sixth, his ninth dinger of the season.
On Sunday, Thomasson was clutch for the Golden Eagles, helping his team rally back for a 6-5 win after trailing three separate times. With Tech behind 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Thomasson pulverized a ball over the left field wall, a two-run shot that evened the score at 3-3 and gave the Tech bunch some much-needed momentum. It marked the junior's 10th moon shot of the year, ranking him among the nation's leaders in the category.
Here's a look at the rest of the awards in the OVC this week:
Player of the Week
Others Nominated: Judah Akers, Belmont; Caleb Howell, Eastern Illinois; Shaun Ball, Eastern Kentucky; Coty Blanchard, Jacksonville State; Kane Sweeney, Morehead State; Brandon Elliott, Murray State; Derek Gibson, Southeast Missouri.
Pitcher of the Week
Ben Gullo, RHP • So., 6-4, 210 • Lake Zurich, Ill. • Eastern Kentucky
Gullo struck out a career-high 13 batters, the most by a player in the OVC this season, in leading Eastern Kentucky to a 7-3 victory over UT Martin on Saturday. The sophomore scattered five hits over eight innings and allowed three runs (on a three-run home run in the seventh) while walking just one batter. He allowed just two hits over the first six innings and retired nine-straight from the fourth through sixth innings. Gullo now has a 3.27 E.R.A. on the season, a mark that ranks seventh in the OVC.
