Baylor’s Enzo Apodaca (player), Oklahoma State’s Robert Cranz (pitcher) and Kansas’ John Nett (newcomer) were voted for Big 12 baseball weekly awards for games ending April 14. It is the first career weekly honor for all three players.
Apodaca, the Bears’ leadoff hitter, reached base in 12 of 18 plate appearances in a road sweep of BYU. The junior outfielder’s week was highlighted by a 5-for-5 game in the series finale, hitting a home run with three RBIs and three runs scored. The communications major from Scottsdale, Arizona went 3-for-6 in Thursday’s series opener. The Gonzaga transfer hit a Big 12-leading .600 during the week, posting a 1.467 OPS, while he had a hit, a run scored and an RBI in each of the three games.
Cranz allowed a single hit over 4.2 relief innings, helping the Cowboys to a series sweep of Cincinnati. In Friday’s series opener, the junior from Keller, Texas entered with a two on, no-out jam, striking out two and only allowing one inherited runner to score, keeping OSU in the game with a 4-1 deficit. The righty sports management major retired nine of 10 Cincinnati batters in the eighth, ninth and 10th innings—striking out six consecutive batters at one point, earning the win after Lane Forsythe’s walk-off grand slam. He picked up a pair of key outs in the eighth inning of the Cowboys’ 10-6 win Sunday, securing a hold.
Nett had four multi-hit games, including a 4-for-4 game with four runs scored and four RBIs, as the Jayhawks went 4-0 on the week. In the midweek game against then-No. 23 Nebraska, he went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs in the 13-11 win. The senior outfielder from Appleton, Wisconsin had his first career multi-home run game Sunday in a 19-3 run-rule victory over Pacific. The liberal arts and sciences major slashed .588/.667/1.176 for the week, and raised his batting average 32 points to .363, which is seventh in the Big 12.
