April 18, 2016
ROSEMONT, Ill. ââ'¬" Greg Guers (Langhorne, Pa.) and Willie Burger (Lancaster, Pa.) were both recognized for outstanding performances at the plate for Penn State, as Guers became the third different Nittany Lion to be named the Big Ten Baseball Player of the Week this season and Burger earned his second freshman accolade, the conference office announced.
Guers is the second Penn State player of the week in as many weeks following fellow corner outfielder Nick Riotto's (Washington, Pa.) selection last week, and he gives Penn State three different honorees for the first time since 2003 (Wes Reohr, Mike DeRenzo and Clint Eury). It is the senior's first Big Ten honor.
Burger was Penn State's first conference player of the week of the season on March 21, and he claimed freshman of the week honors the same week, but he was injured during the ensuing week. Burger returned to action Wednesday against Bucknell and picked up where he left off, becoming the first Nittany Lion to earn freshman of the week honors twice in the same season since the award was instituted in 2011.
The five weekly Big Ten accolades this season are the most for the Nittany Lions since they earned seven in 2007.
One of the hottest hitters in the country, Guers batted .765 for the week, making just four outs in four games going 13-for-17 with eight RBIs, a home run, two doubles and five stolen bases. He also added two walks for a .789 on-base percentage. He opened the week by reaching base in all five plate appearances against Bucknell Wednesday, going 4-for-4 to set a new career high for hits, while adding a season-high four RBIs, two runs and a walk.
Guers then went 9-for-13 at Northwestern with three-straight three-hit games. He had back-to-back 3-for-4 games to open the series, adding two doubles and two RBIs in the second contest. In the finale, he went 3-for-5 with a two-run home run, double, three runs scored and three stolen bases.
Guers was batting just .189 through his first 24 games dating to the April 1 game against Purdue, but he has hit at a .511 clip over the last 11 to raise his season average 125 points to .314. He has posted hits in 10 of the last 11 games, including eight multi-hit games, and is on a five game hitting streak, of which all of them have been multi-hit games.
Burger returned from injury to bat .467 (7-for-15) with a home run and five RBIs for the week in his first action since March 26. Burger hit an RBI-single in his first game back against Bucknell. He then factored in three of Penn State's four runs in its 4-2 win over Northwestern in the series opener, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs on his first career home run. Burger capped the week going 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs in the series finale. He is on a six-game hitting streak dating back to March 23.
Penn State will host Bucknell for the second time in as many weeks Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. The Nittany Lions are on a five-game winning streak and at 22-14 overall are at their best mark since going 23-13 through 36 games in 2011.
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2016 Penn State Big Ten Baseball Players of the Week
March 21
PL: Willie Burger
F: Willie Burger
April 11
PL: Nick Riotto
April 18
PL: Greg Guers
F: Willie Burger