NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The Atlantic 10 Conference has named Rhode Island junior Xavier Vargas its Baseball Player of the Week, while Richmond graduate-student Colby Wyatt and VCU freshman Mason Delane shared Co-Pitchers of the Week. George Washington sophomore Steve DiTomaso earned Rookie of the Week. The awards, announced Monday and presented by Biosteel, are for games played Apr. 26 - May 2.
In a three-game series at No. 26 Arizona State, Vargas batted .467 (7-15) with three home runs, one double, eight runs batted in and six runs scored. He had at least two hits in all three games and also scored in each game, scoring once in the opener, twice in the middle game and three times in the finale. For the week, the first baseman from Woodhaven, N.Y., slugged 1.133 and had a .500 on-base percentage. Vargas now leads the team with eight home runs and 35 RBI in 37 games.
After the Spiders fell in extra innings in game one of Saturday's doubleheader, Wyatt got the Spiders back on track with a complete game victory. The graduate student threw all seven innings, scattering just three hits and striking out six hitters. The RHP from Glendale, Ariz., faced the minimum through his first five innings. He gave up a hit and a walk to put two runners on in the sixth, but struck out two to keep Davidson off of the scoreboard. This was the first complete game by a Spider pitcher this season and the first since the first game of the Swig and Swine Classic in Charleston in 2020.
Delane earned his first win of the season against George Mason Sunday afternoon, striking out eight batters without a walk in five innings of work. After allowing one run early, Delane, a RHP from Colonial Beach, Va., settled in and dominated, striking out five Patriots in a row in the fourth and fifth frames. In Tuesday's 15-5 win over VMI, he also threw two scoreless and hitless innings.
DiTomaso hit safely in all five games for GW this week, hitting .476/.542/.667. The everyday shortstop was 10-for-21 with two doubles and a triple, three runs scored and seven RBI, increasing his season average to .367. The Haddonfield, N.J., native started the week with a three-hit day against Georgetown on Wednesday, including a double and two RBI. Then against SLU, he started the series by going 2-for-4 with a run scored on Friday before collecting a pair of two-hit games on Saturday. In Saturday's second game, DiTomaso was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and career-high five RBI that included a three-run triple in GW's 14-7 win. He finisheed the weekend with a double and stolen base on Sunday.