GLIAC -- The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) has announced its sixth weekly baseball awards of the 2021 Baseball season. Ashland senior Alex Whipple was awarded Player of the Week honors, while Davenport senior Cal Djuraskovic was awarded Pitcher of the Week accolades for the second consecutive week.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Alex Whipple, Ashland
Ashland University junior center fielder Alex Whipple was named the GLIAC Baseball Player of the Week the league office announced on Monday (April 19) afternoon. It is the first career weekly award for Whipple and it is the third time an AU player has won the award this season after senior Garett Robberts won it on March 8 and April 5. Whipple led the AU offense to a 3-1 record over No. 20 Northwood last week at Donges Field. He had a hit and a run in all four games, batting .500 (6-for-12) with a double, two walks, five runs and four RBI. The Angola, N.Y. native went 3-for-4 with two runs in Ashland’s 7-6 walkoff win in Saturday’s opener and drove in a pair of runs in the Eagles’ 13-0 rout in the nightcap. Whipple is fourth in the GLIAC in hitting (.412) and second in on-base percentage (.544). He also has two homers and 21 RBI.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Cal Djuraskovic, Davenport
Djuraskovic followed up his GLIAC Pitcher of the Week with another solid weekend against Purdue Northwest. The lefty picked up a win and two saves as DU won 3-of-4 over the Pride. He fanned nine in six innings and did not walk a batter allowing just two hits. On Friday, he entered in the ninth and had bases loaded with no outs and just gave up a sacrifice fly in the 2-1 win. On Saturday in game one, he needed just 10 pitches to strike out two and get a grounder to combine for the shutout (2-0) which was DU's second shutout of the season. On Sunday, he tossed four innings and entered in the fifth with the bases loaded and no outs and DU trailing 5-4. He struck out the next three batters and DU came back to win 14-5.
HONORABLE MENTION
PLAYER: Hunter DeLanoy (WSU), Carlos Arteaga (UWP), Matt Magno (NU), Austin Koin (SVSU), Noah Marcoux (DU), Ray Hilbrich (PNW)
PITCHER: Dillon McInerney (WSU), Alan LaBov (NU), Hayden Jatczak (SVSU), Josh Stover (AU), Chad Patrick (PNW)