Monday, February 28, 2011

Valparaiso sophomore infielder Jessie Marinec (Alsip, Ill./Marist) has been named the Horizon League Batter of the Week after picking up hits in all five games last weekend as the Crusaders won Stetson’s Hatter Classic.  It marks the first weekly honor from the league office for Marinec.

Marinec hit at a .538 clip for the week, going 7-for-13 at the dish while also getting hit by a pair of pitches, good for an on-base percentage of .600.  She opened the tournament with a 2-for-2 game, including a triple, against Charleston Southern, and put the Crusaders on the board first later that day with a second-inning RBI double at Stetson.  In the tournament championship on Sunday against Bethune-Cookman, she helped extend the Crusaders’ half of the second with a single, a frame in which they scored three of their five runs in a 5-2 win.

With the five-game hitting streak, Marinec now has reached base in Valpo’s last eight contests.  She enters this week’s action tied for the team lead with a .400 batting average and a team-best .464 on-base percentage.  Marinec and the rest of the Crusaders return to action tomorrow with a pair of games at UCF, taking on #9/7 Michigan at 1 p.m. CST before facing the host Knights at 3:30 p.m.