WACO, Texas – Julian Alvarez of Bacone College (Okla.) claimed the Red River Athletic Conference Baseball Player of the Week award for March 31-April 6, while Steven DeFratus of Texas Wesleyan University and Bacone’s Anthony Ruiz were named RRAC Baseball Co-Pitchers of the Week for the same dates.

Alvarez, a junior rightfielder from Boston, Mass., blasted four home runs and drove in 11 in a 4-1 week for Bacone. He went 4-for-5 at the plate with a homer in a loss to Rogers State College (Okla.) to open the week before collecting six hits and eight RBIs in a three-game sweep of conference opponent, Paul Quinn College (Texas). In the middle game of that series, Alvarez was 3-for-3 with a pair of round-trippers and seven RBIs. For the week, he was 12-of-20 with seven runs scored and three doubles. He is now hitting .423 on the season with 19 home runs and 66 RBIs. Bacone climbed to 6-3 in conference play and 34-9 on the season.

DeFratus, a senior pitcher from Oxnard, Calif., tossed his second consecutive complete-game shutout with a one-hitter in his only appearance of the week. He struck out two hitters and walked none in five innings of work to earn a 10-0 win over College of the Southwest (N.M.). DeFratus retired the first 12 hitters he faced as TWU surged to 9-0 in conference play and 26-8 on the season.

Ruiz, a junior pitcher from Barceloneta, P.R., turned in a complete-game, three-hit shutout in his only outing of the week, a 13-0 win over PQC. In eight innings of work, he collected five strikeouts and walked two to raise his pitching record to 4-0.

Jorge Camorlinga of the University of Texas at Brownsville, TWU’s Brandon Frazier and Jeremy Macklin of Huston-Tillotson University (Texas) were additional player of the week nominees. Josiah Hensley of Southwestern Assemblies of God University (Texas) and UTB’s Julian Moya were nominated for this week’s pitcher award.

-RRAC-