Bears Rodriguez, Valley Player of the Year
Hello everyone, I'm Dan Lucy on the Ozarks First digital desk.
The post season has started for the Missouri State baseball Bears.
MoState is the second seed in the Valley tournament which is being held in Normal, Illinois.
Wednesday, the Bears started this double elimination tournament against the home town Illinois State Redbirds.
Seven Missouri State Bears received all-conference honors.
And that includes senior Nick Rodriguez.
Rodriguez was named first team All-Valley, put on the defensive team, and was named the Joe Carter Player of the Year.
This is the seventh time that a Bear has won the Valley's Player of the Year.
Rodriguez is hitting .374 with 17 homers and 54 RBI.
Since the Valley season started, the Tampa, Florida native is hitting .402.
I caught up with Rodriguez before the team left for Illinois.
He talked about what it would mean to him to win the Valley Player of the Year.
Nick Rodriguez (thanks the coaching staff)Joey Hawkins/Missouri State coach (no better player in the league)
The season did not start the way that Rodriguez would have liked.
In fact, the second baseman had only six hits through the first few weeks of the season.
At one point coach Joey Hawkins had the senior batting ninth in the line up.
That provided the spark to jump start his season.
And Rodriguez is thankful for the coaching.
Rodriguez (took me aside and coaching me through it)
On Saturday March 8th, in Wichita, Nick Rodriguez was 0-for-4 with one strikeout.
That was the last time that Rodriguez did not get a hit this season.
The senior is currently riding a 37 game hitting streak which is the 17th longest hitting streak in NCAA division one history.
Just for the trivia nuts out there, the record holder is Robin Ventura who had a 58 game hitting streak in 1987.
During his streak, Rodriguez is hitting .396 with 17 home runs, 16 doubles and 49 RBI.
He helped lift the Bears into a co-championship in the Valley regular season race.
Rodriguez for his part is trying to not let the hitting streak distract him from the ultimate goal of getting to an NCAA regional.
So Nick Rodriguez and Missouri State roll into the Valley tournament on fire.
And we'll see what unfolds in the next week.
For more sports watch Ozarks First news at nine and ten.
And I'll see you then.
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