FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
For the second week in a row, Robby Price (Kansas) has been named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Player of the Week, while Thomas Keeling (Oklahoma State) has earned the Pitcher of the Week honor for games of March 29-April 4, in voting by a panel of media covering the conference. It is Keeling’s first weekly accolade and Price’s second.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Robby Price, Kansas, 2B, Sr., 5-11, 185, Lawrence, Kan./Free State
Price recorded a .550 batting average in five games, leading Kansas to a 3-1-1 record. The Lawrence, Kan. native extended his season-best hitting streak to 13 games in addition to producing multiple-hit games in four of the five contests. Price collected five doubles and one homer while tallying eight runs and eight RBI last week. The senior second baseman had a two-run double in the seventh inning to help KU overcome a four-run deficit against Arkansas-Little Rock on Tuesday, and then hit a two-run homer as KU built a 6-0 lead on Missouri State on Wednesday. In KU’s weekend series against No. 22 Texas A&M, Price went 7-for-12 with three doubles and four RBI, including the game-tying RBI in the ninth inning of Saturday’s 8-8 tie. Over the past 10 games, Price has hit .513 with seven doubles, two triples, two homers and 20 RBI with a .949 slugging percentage and a .588 on-base percentage.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Thomas Keeling, LHP, Jr., 6-3, 184, Ropesville, Texas (Coronado HS)
Keeling earned the first Big 12 Conference win (8-2) of his career in the series opener against Nebraska. The junior hurler tossed 7.1 scoreless innings, allowing only four hits while throwing 11 strikeouts — one shy of his career high. Keeling struck out at least one batter in each of the eight innings in which he appeared, and he recorded multiple strikeouts in the second, third and seventh innings. He leads OSU with 52 strikeouts in 34.1 innings this season and is averaging 13.63 strikeouts per nine innings.
