Latest news with #PitcheroftheWeek
New York Post
20-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Mark Vientos' power becoming too ‘on and off' for Mets
BOSTON — Contact hasn't been Mark Vientos' problem lately as much as driving the ball. The Mets third baseman/DH began Monday a respectable 16-for-54 (.296) in May, but with only two extra-base hits for the month. Vientos homered against the Cubs on May 11 and followed with a double the next night against the Pirates. 'This is just part of the season where I am not driving the ball as much,' Vientos said before going 0-for-4 as DH in a 3-1 loss to the Red Sox on Monday. 'There's probably going to be a part of the season where I am dropping the barrel every single time I hit.' Mark Vientos went 0-for-4 on Monday against the Red Sox. Getty Images Vientos last season blasted 27 homers in 414 at-bats. He entered Monday with five in 158 at-bats. 'I don't want him going out there trying to chase homers,' manager Carlos Mendoza said. 'I want him to continue to give a good approach and control the strike zone, get pitches to hit and put good swings on it and then they will come. But, yeah, it's been a little on and off here.' Mendoza downplayed this stretch of games against three of MLB's best offensive teams in the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers. The Mets lost two of three games to the Yankees over the weekend. 'I feel like nowadays there's no soft spot anymore,' Mendoza said. 'It seems like every team you play is a good team, especially in the National League. It's a pretty competitive league.' Cody Bellinger #35 of the New York Yankees reaches on an infield single in the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium, Sunday, May 18, 2025. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS The Mets will play next week against the White Sox and Rockies, who began the day a combined 49 games below .500. Nick Morabito and Jonah Tong were named Eastern League Player of the Week and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for Double-A Binghamton. Morabito, a 22-year-old outfielder, was 12-for-26 (.462) with a 1.248 OPS for the week. Tong, who earned the award for the second straight week, threw six scoreless innings against Hartford in which he struck out eight and walked two with two hits allowed. The Mets have not lost three straight games this season. The 48-game stretch without losing three straight is the team's longest since 2007, when the Mets went 56 games into the season without such a losing streak.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Northwestern's Kralik and Dordt's Rule named GPAC Softball Players of the Week
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) – Northwestern softball's Kate Kralik and Dordt softball's Brooke Rule have been named GPAC Softball Players of the Week for week 12. Northwestern senior pitcher Kate Kralik earned her 3rd honor of conference Pitcher of the Week after striking out 11 batters in a 3-0 week. The Indianola native threw 14 innings, compiling an ERA of 1.50. The Red Raider is currently second in the GPAC with 135 strikeouts this season. Dordt senior outfielder Brook Rule earned the title of conference Player of the Week after stealing four bases and batting .714 last week with 8 runs scored. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
American Press
25-04-2025
- Sport
- American Press
Delayed rivalry revisited
Freshman Maddie Taylor have a shot at history this weekend at SFA. (Raymond Stewart/McNeese Athletics) The Cowgirls travel back to Nacogdoches, Texas, to renew an old rivalry and hope to make history. They open the final three-game series of the Southland Conference's regular season against Stephen F. Austin Saturday at noon with a doubleheader. It is McNeese State's first trip back to Nacogdoches since 2019 as SFA returns to the Southland. The series was pushed back one day due to weather concerns in the area on Friday. 'It does change some things, opening with the two games instead of one,' said McNeese head coach James Landreneu. 'We will just have to adapt. We have been dealing with adversity all season.' McNeese has won five straight against the Lady Lumberjacks, but these three are ultra-important. The Cowgirls (34-18, 20-4) are looking to become the first program in SLC history to win four straight softball regular-season titles. They enter the weekend tied for first with Southeastern, which plays Nicholls. That series began Friday with a pair of games and will end about the same time the Cowgirls are getting their set started. 'It will be hard not to be watching what they do, and that could change things, but we have to worry about ourselves and how we play,' said Landreneau. 'I'm excited to see how we react to the pressure.' McNeese holds the tiebreaker with the Lady Lions. Both teams have already wrapped up hosting a pod in the upcoming postseason. 'It is important to be home for the tournament,' said Landreneau. 'We want to sleep in our own beds and keep our routines the same. It would reward our fans for their support.' McNeese enters the weekend hot, having won 11 of its last 12 but coming off a 5-2 loss at the hands of No. 10 LSU Tuesday in Baton Rouge. SFA is 26-24, 14-10, but lost last Tuesday as well, falling to Louisiana Tech. 'They will be a real challenge for us,' said Landreneau. 'They have been getting better and better as the season has moved along. They would love to beat us.' SFA is led by left-hander Alexis Telford, who is 10-6 with a 2.97 earned run average. She is coming off being named the Southland's Pitcher of the Week. 'She has been pitching really well,' said Landreneau. 'We are going to have to work to get to her.' In league games, Telford's ERA is third-best at 1.89. Kaylee Paul leads the SFA offense with a .443 batting average. Adelyn Becerra is the Lady Jacks' top power hitter with eight home runs. McNeese has six players in the starting lineup hitting over .300, with Jada Munoz leading the power surge with 13 home runs, good for second in the conference. Freshman Maddie Taylor is 15-7 with fellow rookie Kadence Williams at 10-7. Now comes the big test for the young team, playing in big games. 'What we have talked about is not the championships, but what it takes to get to this point,' said Landreneau. 'We have talked about staying focused mentally and staying focused on doing our job. 'You don't want to worry about everyone else. What matters is how we play and how we work through the adversity that is going to come.' With just three starters returning, winning this title would show just how far this young softball team has come in a short period of time. 'We have three games to play on the road to win a championship, to show how far we have developed,' said Landreneau. 'That would give us a lot of confidence moving forward.'
American Press
21-04-2025
- Sport
- American Press
Dowell earns hitting honor
Easton Dowell earned hitting award from Southland Conference this week. (Kirk Meche/Special to American Press) For the second straight week, and third time overall, McNeese State has won a Player of the Week award in baseball. Easton Dowell, the Southland Conference's leading hitter at .431, earned Hitter of the Week honors Monday, the league announced. That comes a week after center fielder Conner Westenburg picked up the same award. Left-hander Alexis Grevel won the Pitcher of the Week honor earlier in the season. Dowell had a big weekend as the Cowboys took two of three from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to move into a tie for first place with Southeastern, a half game ahead of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. The redshirt sophomore shortstop was 8-for-12 (.750) and hit his sixth home run during the three-game series at Joe Miller Ballpark. He also had three doubles and drove in four runs. 'Easton has been an outstanding player for us all season,' said Hill. 'We feel good when he is at the plate. He puts a good swing on the ball most of the time.' Dowell was 3-for-3 in the series finale Saturday, a 3-1 victory. The Cowboys will open a showdown series with UTRGV Friday night in Texas. However, before that, McNeese will host Louisiana Christian on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Parker Morgan (1-1) will make his seventh start for McNeese. The Wildcats (23-23) have lost six straight games. 'We have business to take care of first on Tuesday,' said McNeese head coach Justin Hill. The Cowboys captured the series against the Islanders thanks to Sergio Lopez and Jake Blackwell. The two pitchers combined to hold down the Islanders just 24 hours after they had hit five home runs. The duo allowed just one run and five hits as they split Saturday's outing. The win gave the Cowboys (29-7, 16-5) their fifth straight Southland Conference series victory and sixth in seven weekends. 'You want to sweep, but you know you are not going to win them all,' said Hill. 'What you have to do is win the series.' Lopez helped them do that. Making his first start of the season, and pitching for the first time in four weeks after an injury, Lopez didn't miss a beat. Lopez pitched 4⅓ innings, allowing three hits while striking out five. He left on a pitch count and picked up the win to improve to 5-1. 'We were hoping to get two innings out of him, but he did more,' said Hill. Blackwell went the final 4⅔ innings to earn his third save. Blackwell's only mistake was a home run hit by Jarrett Flaggert, who blasted his third of the year and second in as many days in the sixth to cut the lead to 2-1. Conner Westenburg and Conner Schneider each added two hits for the Cowboys.
USA Today
19-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Lady Vols complete sweep against Auburn softball
Lady Vols complete sweep against Auburn softball No. 4 Tennessee (37-9, 12-6 SEC) defeated Auburn (27-20, 4-17 SEC), 4-1, Saturday at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium. With the victory, the Lady Vols completed a SEC series sweep for the first time this season. Tennessee led, 1-0, in the second inning after Gabby Leach scored on a wild pitch. The Lady Vols scored three runs in the fifth inning as McKenna Gibson hit a RBI single and Laura Mealer hit a two-run single. Auburn scored its only run in the sixth inning, and never led in the series finale after Tennessee earned comeback victories in the first two games. Kinsey Fiedler went 2-for-3 for Tennessee in the series finale. She recorded one double and scored one run for the Lady Vols, who have won five consecutive SEC games. Mealer also went 1-for-2 and recorded two RBIs. Taylor Pannell went 1-for-2, scoring one run, while Gibson went 1-for-4 and recorded two RBIs in Tennessee's win. Sage Mardjetko (10-2), who started for the second straight game, pitched six innings. She allowed one run, three hits and one walk. Mardjetko recorded five strikeouts, while totaling 92 pitches, including 58 strikes. Three-time reigning SEC and NFCA Pitcher of the Week Karlyn Pickens pitched the seventh inning, allowing one hit to the Tigers. She totaled 11 pitches, including eight strikes.
