NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Valley infielder Mason LaPlante (Yale) and North Shore right-handed hurler Jackson Emus (Princeton) have been named the New England Collegiate Baseball League’s (NECBL) Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for the fourth installment of the 2021 season.
LaPlante enjoyed an excellent week for the Blue Sox, who enter Monday with a league-best 11 wins (tied with Martha’s Vineyard), and LaPlante had hits in all of his four outings over the past week. He started the week hot with a 4-for-5 showing that featured two runs, a homer and four RBIs in a shootout at Newport before tacking on hits in each of his next three games to go along with two more runs, another homer and five RBIs. His seven total hits were tied for third in the league last week, while his nine RBIs paced all hitters. He was one home run shy of the league lead over the last seven days. LaPlante also went 4-for-4 in stolen bases, tied for third in the league over the last week, while he was one of seven players to bat over .400 last week with double-digit at-bats. He finished with an OPS of 1.186 on the week, as well.
After 15 games, LaPlante is batting .292 with 13 RBIs and 14 total hits in 48 at-bats. He owns eight runs, a triple, two homers and has gone 8-for-10 on the bases. His OPS on the season stands at .855 with an on-base percentage of .397 and a slugging percentage of .458. A Willis, Texas, native, LaPlante is a rising senior at Yale.
On the hill, Emus made his third start (fifth appearance) of the summer for the Navigators on June 24 and logged his best outing yet; he struck out seven batters over seven scoreless innings and 25 batters faced while working around two walks and three hits to lift North Shore to a 4-0 shutout victory over Winnipesaukee. He lowered his season ERA to 2.45 and his WHIP to 0.87 in the process, and opposing hitters are now batting just .177 against him.
Now 2-0 on the season through five outings, Emus has logged 18-1/3 innings of work with 20 strikeouts over that span. He has walked only five and held opponents to just 11 hits. A Clinton, Massachusetts, native, Emus will be entering his junior year at Princeton this fall.
Week 4 Honor Roll – Position PlayersGehrig Anglin (Upper Valley), Justin Guerrera (Newport), Matt McDermott (Vermont), Charles Middleton (North Adams), Austin White (Bristol)
Week 4 Honor Roll – PitchersNick Cantone (Upper Valley), Nate McLain (Ocean State), Jacob Moskowitz (Bristol), Reese Sharp (Winnipesaukee), Kellan Tulio (Newport)
