MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State senior shortstop Jake Brown was named the Big 12 Co-Player of the Week for his conference- and school-record tying performance last week, the conference office announced Monday. It was the first player-of-the-week honor in Brown’s career.
A product of Russell, Kan., Brown hit .524 (11-for-21) with three doubles, one home run and 11 RBI in five games last week, while he also recorded a .810 slugging percentage and a .545 on-base percentage.
In the first game of a doubleheader against Hartford on Saturday, Brown tied a Big 12 and school record with six hits in six at-bats, including a pair of two-RBI doubles. It was the first time since 2008 a Big 12 player had six hits in a game, while he was the first Wildcat to do so since 1999 and just the third overall.
Brown followed that contest with a 2-for-4 effort in the second game, finishing his day 8-for-10 with seven RBI. His eight hits represented the biggest single-day outburst in head coach Brad Hill’s nine-year tenure at K-State, three hits better than the previous mark.
On Friday, Brown hit his third career home run, a two-run shot over the right-field wall. He capped his week by hitting a RBI double off the right-field wall on Sunday.
Thanks to his big week, Brown raised his season batting average nearly 100 points as he now ranks seventh in the league at .364. He is also tied for eighth in hits, third in runs, fifth in RBI and seventh in on-base percentage after not seeing his name in the top 10 of those categories prior to the week.
Brown, who shared the honor with Oklahoma State’s Robbie Rea, is the first Wildcat to earn the conference’s weekly player honor since catcher Brandon Farr in 2006. K-State has had eight pitcher-of-the-week honors and a pair of newcomer awards over the last five seasons.
NEXT GAME: Tuesday, March 13 at Minnesota (7-8, 0-0)
The Wildcats open up a two-game road stint with the Minnesota Golden Gophers out of the Big 10 Conference on Tuesday at the Hubert Humphrey MetroDome in Minneapolis, Minn. Two sophomore southpaws are expected to start as K-State will send Shane Conlon (1-1, 5.00 ERA) to the mound. Minnesota will counter with DJ Snelten (0-0, 1.06 ERA). First pitch on Tuesday from the Metrodome is set for 6:35 p.m. with pregame beginning at 6 p.m. The game can be heard in the Manhattan area on Sports Radio 1350 or online at 1350kman.com
