Mansfield's Chris Zelko (left) and Slippery Rock's Jamison Walck (right).
PSAC Baseball Athletes of the Week - 4
Lock Haven, Pa. - A pair of complete game shutouts highlighted this week’s PSAC baseball weekly awards as Mansfield’s Chris Zelko is the PSAC East Pitcher of the Week after throwing a one-hitter and Mercyhurst’s Jordan Backes is the PSAC West Pitcher of the Week after tossing a two-hitter. West Chester’s Nick Spisak is the PSAC East Player of the Week after a tremendous week at the plate that featured four home runs while Slippery Rock’s Jamison Walck is the PSAC West Player of the Week after all seven of hits on the weekend were singles but produced a total of 11 runs (6 RBI, 5 scored).
PSAC East Player of the Week
Nick Spisak, West Chester
Senior, IF
Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor
Spisak hit .615 (8-for-13) with a 1.615 slugging percentage and a .762 on-base percentage in five games last week for West Chester, which included a four-game sweep of Bloomsburg. He scored 13 runs, hit four home runs and drove in nine runs and was a perfect 5-for-5 on stolen bases. In the PSAC East series, Spisak hit .667 (8-for-12), scored nine runs and had nine RBI. He started the week by officially going 0-for-1 but stealing four bases and scoring four runs in a non-conference win over University of the Sciences. He went 6-for-8 with six RBI and three home runs in a doubleheader sweep of Bloomsburg on Friday and cracked a two-run homer in Saturday’s twinbill sweep.
PSAC East Pitcher of the Week
Chris Zelko, Mansfield
Junior, RHP
Horseheads, N.Y./Horseheads
Zelko helped Mansfield win its PSAC East opener by tossing a complete game one-hitter in a 2-0 win over Millersville in the first game of Friday’s doubleheader. In spinning the shutout, Zelko struck out five and walked just one. He carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before giving up a leadoff single. He faced just two batters over the minimum and recorded 11 groundouts.
PSAC West Player of the Week
Jamison Walck, Slippery Rock
Freshman, IF
Waynesboro, Pa./Waynesboro
Walck hit .500 (7-for-14) with six RBI and five runs scored to help Slippery Rock to a series sweep of Clarion. He also had an on-base percentage of .563. He started the weekend with a 3-for-5 performance with four RBI and two runs in the series-opening win over the Golden Eagles. He went 2-for-3 with a run in the Game 3 of the series and scored two and drove in one more in the series finale.
PSAC West Pitcher of the Week
Jordan Backes, Mercyhurst
Senior, RHP
Mount Zion, Ill./Mount Zion
Backes pitched a complete game, two-hit shutout to lead Mercyhurst to a 9-0 win over California in the first game of last weekend’s series, which the teams split. He struck out seven and walked just two to move to 2-1 on the season while facing just four batters over the minimum in the victory.