Top Performers: Week 7

Lamar's Sam Bumpers led off Friday's opener against McNeese State with a home run -- and he was just getting started. Bumpers finished Game 1 of the doubleheader by recording hits in all seven of his at-bats. He hit three home runs and drove in five runs during the 8-7, 11-inning victory for the Cardinals. The seven hits were the most in school history, supplanting Bobby Bradshaw's six-hit game vs. Texas-Arlington in 1975. The three homers tied the school record, which was last matched by David Moore in 2008. Bumpers followed up in the day's second game with a 3-for-5 outing with another homer and two runs scored. He entered Friday without a home run in his first 25 games.

 

 

South Carolina catcher Grayson Greiner hit a walk-off grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift South Carolina to a 9-6 win against Tennessee on Saturday. His play along with Jordan Gore's walk-off homer was No. 1 on ESPN's SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays of the Day. Greiner hit .438 in the series with seven RBI, a .438 on-base percentage and a .688 slugging percentage. He caught all 32 innings for the Gamecocks this weekend as well.

K-State centerfielder Ross Kivett led or tied for the lead in the Big 12 in nine different offensive categories last week. Kivett hit .588 (10-for-17) with three doubles, a triple, a home run, and seven RBI in four games last week. He led the Big 12 in batting average, hits, RBI, runs scored (7), total bases (18), on-base percentage (.600), and slugging percentage (1.059). He also tied for the conference lead in doubles (3) and triples (1). Kivett started the week by becoming the first Wildcat to hit for the cycle in nearly 17 years. He completed the cycle by the sixth inning of the March 26 game against Nebraska, hitting a home run in the first, a triple in the second, a double in the third and a single in the sixth (fifth at-bat).

Liberty's Trey Lambert posted a one-hit complete game shutout win against Presbyterian on Friday. In the rainy conditions, the right-hander struck out seven hitters with no walks. The only hit he allowed was a two-out double in the first inning, as he held the PC hitters to a .033 average. He retired the last 14 hitters he faced to close out the contest.

Southeast Missouri State's Matt Tellor was red hot this week. Tellor blasted three home runs in game three against Tennessee-Martin on Sunday and finished with four home runs in the series sweep against the Skyhawks with 11 RBI and a .615 batting average. He posted a 1.692 slugging percentage in the three games with a .667 on-base percentage. In all, Tellor scored nine of Southeast's 33 runs. Tellor became the first Redhawk to hit three home runs in a game since Tyrell Cummings on April 6, 2008, against Murray State at Capaha.