ST. LOUIS – After playing key roles in a pair of Missouri State victories last week, Jake Burger and Austin Knight have earned a clean sweep of the Missouri Valley Conference weekly honors, the league office announced Monday.
Burger heated up at the plate to help the Bears to a split of their four games last week, hitting .588 (10-for-17) with five RBIs overall. He logged multi-hit games in all four contests and drove in two runs in both of Missouri State’s victories. In Friday’s series opener with Central Michigan, Burger went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs, before gashing the Chippewas for three more hits in the nightcap of the doubleheader. In Sunday’s finale, he added two more hits to extend his career-best hit streak to 14 games.
Knight turned in seven shutout innings to help Missouri State snap a two-game losing streak with a 7-2 non-conference victory over New Orleans. The junior right-hander scattered five hits over his 7.0 innings and worked his way out of trouble in three consecutive innings after the Privateers put their first two hitters aboard. Knight kept the visitors at bay by inducing three double-play balls en route to picking up his second victory of the season.
The award is the fifth career Valley Player of the Week citation for Burger and the second in three weeks for the junior third baseman, while Knight earns his first MVC Pitcher of the Week honor.
Missouri State returns to Hammons Field Tuesday (March 28) to open a nine-game home stand with a 6:30 p.m. contest against Oral Roberts.
