Teams: Baseball: Press Releases

Monday, April 16, 2007

McDAVITT GETS NESCAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARD FOR THIRD TIME

MEDFORD -- For the third consecutive season, Tufts University baseball first baseman Bryan McDavitt (Holden, MA/St. Peter-Marian) has been named the New England Small College Athletic Conference's Player of the Week.

McDavitt has been red-hot with the bat for head coach John Casey's Jumbos. He was a candidate for NESCAC Player of the Week honors last week, but was not selected. This week, he earned the award after batting .538 (7/13) with four runs scored, two RBIs and a stolen base in four games. He had a double, a triple and a home run for a 1.000 slugging percentage, and also took six walks to post a .684 on-base percentage.

Tufts week' started with a loss at Brandeis on Tuesday, when McDavitt was 2 for 4 with a double, a walk and a run scored. He walked three times (once intentionally) and stole a base in the first of three games against NESCAC East Division opponent Bowdoin on Friday. He was 2 for 3 with two runs scored and an RBI in Saturday's 6-5 victory in nine innings to open the double-header. His triple in the bottom of the ninth inning led to the winning run when he advanced home after Bowdoin's relay throw went into its dug-out. McDavitt had also tied the game at 5-5 with a single in the sixth.

In Saturday's second game, he went 3 for 4 and hit his second home run of the season. Tufts took two out of three against the Polar Bears and are atop the NESCAC East Division standings with a 5-1 record. Tufts is 15-7 overall and ranked fifth in New England.

McDavitt is currently seventh in the NESCAC with a .395 batting average (32/81), and he's ranked fourth in the league with 1.45 hits per game and is third with eight doubles. He's currently fourth on the team's all-time hits list with 172.

As a sophomore during the 2005 season, McDavitt won his first NESCAC Player of the Week Award on April 5. Last year the honor came on April 4, 2006. Also a defensive back on the Tufts football team, he was picked as the NESCAC Defensive Player of the Week on November 1, 2004. He is a two-time recipient of the Athletic Department's Rudolph J. Fobert Award as the best multi-sport athlete.

After a non-league game on Wednesday at home against UMass Dartmouth, the Jumbos travel to Hartford for three games against Trinity this weekend. Tufts is looking to win the NESCAC East for the first time in the careers of McDavitt and the rest of the seniors. The Bantams, at 7-2, are right behind them in the standings.

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