By Chris Kutz, K-State Athletics Communications
(Photo Courtesy Kansas State Athletics)
After helping lead K-State to its third straight series win at KU, Nate Griep and Tyler Wolfe were named the Big 12 Pitcher and Newcomer of the Week, respectively, for the period ending May 17, the conference office announced.
Griep, who was last week’s Pitcher of the Week after throwing a three-hit shutout against Oklahoma on May 8, held the Jayhawks scoreless in his seven innings of work on May 15 while matching his career-high in strikeouts with eight in K-State’s 11-0 win, the Wildcats’ largest shutout in the all-time series vs. KU. Wolfe, meanwhile, had a multi-hit and multi-RBI effort in each of the three games of the series as he was the conference’s top hitter with a .571 batting average (8-for-14) while also driving in six runs.
Griep is the first Wildcat ever to win Big 12 Pitcher of the Week in back-to-back weeks while he is just second player in program history to earn it twice in one season (Brad Hutt, 2006). Griep is also the second player this season to earn the conference’s top pitcher accolade in consecutive weeks as he is joined by Oklahoma State’s Michael Freeman (March 23 and 30).
Griep finished the regular season with a consecutive scoreless inning streak of 16 frames. The redshirt sophomore posted the fourth-best ERA (1.96) in the Big 12 in conference-only games while his overall season ERA (2.35) is currently the lowest by a Wildcat starting pitcher since A.J. Morris (2.09) in 2009.
For Wolfe, it his third Newcomer of the Week award and second in the last three weeks. The Des Moines Area Community College transfer is K-State’s top hitter in Big 12 action, batting .366 (30-for-82) in all 24 games. Wolfe is the first newcomer to lead the Wildcats in batting average in conference-only games since Jon Davis in 2012.
The Maple Plain, Minnesota native was among the Big 12 leaders last week in hits (T-1st), OBP (2nd), triples (T-2nd) and RBIs (T-2nd). The everyday shortstop also threw a career-high two innings on Sunday, not allowing a run and surrendering just one hit in his third appearance of the year.
K-State has garnered 10 total Big 12 player of the week awards this year, the most in a single campaign in program history. Prior to this season, the Wildcats had never won more than five.
The Wildcats are en route to Tulsa, Oklahoma where they will play in the 2015 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship later this week. K-State, the sixth seed, opens its portion of the double-elimination tournament with a 4 p.m. contest against third-seeded Oklahoma on Wednesday at ONEOK Field.
