PSAC Baseball Athletes of the Week - 8
West Chester’s MATT COTELLESE is this week’s PSAC East Player of the Week for the second time in the last three weeks, after helping lead West Chester to at least a tie for the Eastern Division title. Mansfield’s ERIC ROSENBERGER becomes the second different Moutaineer hurler to earn PSAC East Pitcher of the Week honors this year. IUP’s T.J. NICHOLS kept the Crimson Hawks in contention for a playoff berth with his big week with the bat to earn the PSAC West Player of the Week award while Mercyhurst’s JOHN MANG becomes the third straight Laker pitcher and the fourth different one to win the PSAC West Pitcher of the Week award.
PSAC East Player of the Week
Matt Cotellese, West Chester
Senior, OF
Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown
Cotellese earns his second PSAC East Player of the Week award in the past three weeks after he hit .600 (12-for-20) in West Chester’s 5-0 week, which helped the Golden Rams clinch a tie for the Eastern Division title and the top seed in the East as they swept Bloomsburg and also took a non-conference game from Wilmington. Of his 12 hits, seven went for extra bases, including four doubles, a triple and two home runs, for a slugging percentage of 1.000. He knocked in 10 runs and scored eight.
PSAC East Pitcher of the Week
Eric Rosenberger, Mansfield
Junior, LHP
Dillsburg, Pa./Northern
Rosenberger helped pitched Mansfield back into the hunt for a playoff spot as he picked up two wins in a 4-2 week for the Mountaineers that left them in a three-way tie for the final playoff spot in the East with one weekend left in the regular season. Rosenberger went 2-0 with a 1.98 ERA, allowing 12 hits and three earned runs in 13.2 innings of work. he struck out nine and walked four. In an 8-3 win over Shippensburg, he went 6.2 innings, allowing eight hits and two earned runs while striking out four and walking three. Then, on Saturday, he tossed a complete game four-hitter, allowing just one run and one walk while striking out five to pick up the win and improve to 6-2 on the year in a 7-1 win over Millersville.
PSAC West Player of the Week
T.J. Nichols, IUP
Junior, C/OF
Sykesville, Pa./Dubois
Nichols helped lead IUP to a 6-4 week in 10 games for the Crimson Hawks last week. In the eight games that he played in, IUP went 6-2, including a doubleheader sweep of first place California (Pa.) last Monday. He hit .593 (16-for-27) with a double, three home runs, 13 RBI and 15 runs scored. In the aforementioned twinbill sweep of Cal, Nichols went a combined 5-for-7 with five runs, a home run and eight RBI. In Saturday’s doubleheader split with Gannon, he went a combined 5-for-8 with five runs, a home run and four RBI.
PSAC West Pitcher of the Week
John Mang, Mercyhurst
Senior, RHP
Youngstown, Ohio/Austintown-Fitch
Mang improved his record to 7-1 on the year by pitching a complete-game, two-hit shutout in Mercyhurst’s 9-0 win over Clarion in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. The win clinched the series win for Mercyhurst, who went on to sweep the series from the Golden Eagles to remain in a tie for first place in the PSAC West. Mang struck out seven and walked just one to pick up his seventh straight win after losing his first decision of the year back in February. He faced just one batter above the minimum, as he induced two double plays to erase the only two batters to reach safely on hits, and did not allow a single baserunner to make it past first base.