Hanson, Mariano Earn Landmark Weekly Baseball Honors
TOWSON, Md. --- Junior outfielder Matt Hanson and senior pitcher Thomas Mariano of the Moravian College baseball team have earned Landmark Conference Player and Pitcher of the Week honors for their performances last week.
The duo helped the Greyhounds to a 4-0 record to boast the squad's overall mark to 26-6. Moravian, which was ranked no. 29 in last week's American Baseball Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball Poll, won a pair of Landmark games to improve to 14-3 in conference action and lock up the top seed in the 2014 Landmark Tournament to be hosted by the Hounds at Gillespie Field May 3-5.
Hanson, who earns Landmark Player of the Week honors for the third time in four weeks, hit .571 with eight hits in 14 at-bats last week, and he scored seven times and drove in seven more runs. Hanson had a double and a homer for a .857 slugging percentage, and he also drew two walks for a .684 on-base percentage to go with two stolen bases. Hanson opened the week with a 1-for-4 performance in Moravian's 8-1 win over then No. 6 Kean University. He was 1-for-2 with two runs in an 8-1 victory at DeSales. Hanson finished the week with a 6-for-8 performance in doubleheader sweep of The University of Scranton that also including four runs, six RBIs, a double and his team-leading second homer of the year.
"Matt has really started to heat up," stated Head Coach Paul Engelhardt. "He has a lot going for him offensively – power, speed, contact. He is maybe the best in the conference right now."
Mariano tossed the first seven innings of Moravian's win over nationally-ranked Kean with a run on three hits and five walks while striking out four batters to improve to 3-2 on the season. The Cougars would get a run on two hits in the first three hitters of the game before Mariano shut the door. Kean loaded the bases in the top of the fifth inning, trailing 6-1, with no outs but Mariano would get two strikeouts and a ground out to end the threat. The win was Mariano's 12th career win.
"Tommy went out and executed all of this pitches against Kean," Engelhardt said. "He was able to mix in off speed and kept one of the best teams in the country from hitting.
"Getting these individual awards are a credit to the whole team. The assistant coaches work hard at getting the most out of every player, and if you're fortunate to be winning, individual awards will happen," Engelhardt finished.
Moravian will complete its three-game Landmark series with The University of Scranton on Monday, April 21 beginning at 3:00 p.m. at Connell Park in Scranton.
