Baseball's Nick McLain Earns National, Conference Recognition
PHOENIX -- Nick McLain landed a gamut of national and conference recognition following an exceptional week at the dish in which he led ASU to a 4-1 record with a series win over Washington and a midweek series sweet over UC San Diego. McLain's efforts garnered him D1Baseball's Player of the Week, NCAA Baseball's Player of the Week, NCBWA Hitter of the Week and Pac-12 Conference Player of the Week nods.
In ASU's five games last week, McLain bat a ridiculous .591 on 13-of-22 hitting, scoring 14 runs himself along with 13 RBIs. After a relatively slow start to the season in which he had four home runs, the redshirt sophomore went yard in all five games last week - none more important than his two-out grand slam in extra innings to walk it off in the Sun Devils' opener against Washington on Friday night.
McLain boasted a whopping 1.364 slugging percentage, adding two doubles to the five homers and striking out only once. He reached base at a .654 clip, and went 5-for-5 against Washington in the win on Sunday afternoon. The outfielder did his part on defense as well, going a perfect nine-for-nine on putouts throughout the week.
McLain rides an 11-game hitting streak into the week and has recorded multiple RBIs in seven-straight games He is now second on the team with 43 RBIs this season, up to 12th in the Pac-12 in the category. His batting average has climbed over 50 points in the last 10 games, going from .250 to .304 in the process.
He becomes the third Sun Devils to earn weekly recognition from the Pac-12, joining Ryan Campos (2x) and Connor Markl. The honor gives ASU back-to-back Player of the Week nods after Campos earned the award last week.
McLain also becomes the third member of his family to take home Pac-12 Player of the Week honors, as his brother Matt won it for UCLA in 2020 and Sean for ASU in 2022.
Sun Devil Pac-12 Players/Pitchers of the Week:
Players:
April 1 - Ryan Campos
April 29 - Ryan Campos
May 6 - Nick McLain
Pitchers:
March 18 - Connor Markl