Pac-12 Announces Baseball Players of the Week

SAN FRANCISCO - The Conference office announced today Bobby Dalbec of ARIZONA was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week and Kyle Molnar of UCLA was tabbed Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week for the action during the week of March 14-20.

Dalbec (Parker, Colorado) displayed why he’s one of the best two-way players in the nation this past week. In the team’s lone mid-week game against New Mexico State, Dalbec went 3-4 with four RBI, a career-high four runs scored and two home runs. It marked his second-career multi-home run game. Dalbec’s first home run was a three-run shot in the first inning to set the tone for an 11-8 win. His second was a solo shot that provided insurance and cleared the batter’s eye in center field at Hi Corbett Field. When the game got tight late, Dalbec entered on the mound and retired the only three batters he faced to earn his fifth save of the season. Over the weekend in the team’s first Pac-12 series of the year at Washington, Dalbec was just as effective. In Sunday’s finale, Dalbec hit a two-run home run to right-centerfield that iced the game. More importantly, Dalbec, the team’s closer, entered in the second inning in a must-win game for the Wildcats after dropping the first two of the series. Dalbec responded, throwing six innings in relief and earning the win for Arizona. All total for the week, Dalbec went 5-14 with 6 runs, 6 RBI, three home runs and 5 walks. He reached base .526 of the time for the week. On the mound, Dalbec earned a win and a save and posted a 2.57 ERA in seven innings. This is Dalbec's first-career weekly accolade and the 64th all-time in Arizona history.

Molnar (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) started on Sunday and earned his second career win in an 11-2 victory over Washington State. The rookie set new career-highs in innings (7.0) and strikeouts (11) in the game. Molnar retired the final 13 consecutive batters he faced, including a run of eight-straight strikeouts. The freshman became the first UCLA pitcher to strikeout eight batters in a row since David Huff in 2006. The closest in between that span was Gerrit Cole who struck out 7 in a row in 2010. Molnar allowed just two runs on four hits in the contest. Overall, Molnar ranks second on the team in strikeouts (25), innings (26.0) and wins (2). This is Molnar's first-career weekly honor and the 70th all-time for UCLA.

The Wildcats host Utah Valley on Tuesday, Mar. 22 before welcoming the Bruins for a three-game series starting on Thursday, Mar. 24.

ALSO NOMINATED
Player: Brett Cumberland, CAL; Christian Donahue, OSU; Nico Hoerner, STAN; Sean Bouchard, UCLA; Jeremy Martinez, USC; DaShawn Keirsey, UTAH; Chris Baker, WASH.
Pitcher:  Daulton Jefferies, CAL; Travis Eckert, OSU; Tristan Beck, STAN; Andrew Wright, USC; Josh Lapiana, UTAH; Noah Bremer, WASH.

2015-16 PAC-12 PLAYER AND PITCHER OF THE WEEK