Kutztown's Shayne Houck (left) and IUP's Kyle Stryker (right).
PSAC Baseball Athletes of the Week - 7
Lock Haven, Pa. - Kutztown’s Shayne Houck is the PSAC East Player of the Week for the third straight week after helping the Golden Bears to a 7-1 week and into a tie for first place in the division. East Stroudsburg’s Christian Saveri also earns his third PSAC East Pitcher of the Week award after notching a win and a save in two games last week. IUP sweeps this week’s West awards as Kyle Stryker is the Player of the Week and Corey Betz is the Pitcher of the Week.
PSAC East Player of the Week
Shayne Houck, Kutztown
Sophomore, 3B
Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown
Houck is the PSAC East Player of the Week for the third straight week after leading Kutztown to a 7-1 week and into a share of first place in the PSAC East as the Golden Bears took two out of three games from West Chester in a matchup of the top two teams in the PSAC East standings. For the week, Houck hit .524 (11-for-21) with three home runs, 13 RBI, four doubles, a triple and 12 runs scored. He had a 1.283 slugging percentage and a .645 on-base percentage for an OPS of 1.883. With his three home runs, Houck tied the school record for home runs in a season with 12. His best effort of the week came in the second game on a twinbill sweep of East Stroudsburg last Wednesday as he went 3-for-3 with four runs scored, hit two home runs, his third multi-home run game of the season, and had six RBI in a 10-5 win over the Warriors. He also went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI in the first game. In a non-conference doubleheader sweep of Wilmington, he went a combined 4-for-6 with three runs and three RBI. In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader against West Chester, his three-run homer helped lead the Golden Bears to an 8-2 win to split the twinbill. In Sunday’s twinbill sweep of the Rams, Houck registered just two official at bats but he scored four times as he was hit by a pitch twice and drew five walks.
PSAC East Pitcher of the Week
Christian Saveri, East Stroudsburg
Senior, LHP
Bethlehem, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic
Saveri notched one win and one save in his two appearances last week as he helped East Stroudsburg take three out of four games from Shippensburg. Over the weekend, he threw a combined 8.2 innings and allowed 11 hits but just two runs, one earned, while striking out four and walking two. In the opener of the series, he came out of the bullpen and recorded a five-out save to preserve the win, getting two outs in the sixth with the tying run at the plate and then pitching around a leadoff error in the seventh. Then, he came back the following day to pitch the opening game of a doubleheader, tossing a complete game in which he gave up 10 hits but stranded 13 runners on base. He shut out the Red Raiders for 6.2 innings and held Shippensburg to 1-of-15 with runners in scoring position in a 3-1 win.
PSAC West Player of the Week
Kyle Stryker, IUP
Senior, 1B
Mississauga, Ontario/Mount Carmel
Stryker hit .517 (15-for-29) with four doubles and four home runs to go along with 14 RBI and 13 runs scored to help IUP to a 6-2 record last week. He also stole four bases in as many attempts, had a slugging percentage of 1.069, and hit safely and scored at least one run in all eight games while driving in a run in seven of the eight games. He began the week with four hits, including a double, two home runs and six RBI in a doubleheader sweep of Lock Haven last Tuesday. On Wednesday, Stryker had four more hits, including another home run and four RBI in a twinbill split with Shippensburg. In the opener of Saturday’s doubleheader with Clarion, he went 4-for-4 with a double and three runs and then doubled, scored three runs and stole two bases in the second game as IUP got the sweep. He then belted a two-run homer in Sunday’s win in the first game over the Golden Eagles to clinch the series win.
PSAC West Pitcher of the Week
Corey Betz, IUP
Senior, RHP
Dilltown, Pa./Northern York
Betz threw six scoreless innings to pick up the win in a 12-0 win over Clarion in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, helping IUP to a doubleheader sweep and a series win over the Golden Eagles. He allowed just four hits and one walk while striking out four to earn his 15th career win, moving him into eighth place on IUP’s all-time wins last. He did not allow a runner to advance past second base in the game and at one point retired 10 straight hitters.