Del Villar, Porter win GCAC Weekly Awards
After leading their team to a sweep, Ivan Del Villar claims Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week and Jalen Porter takes home Pitcher of the Week for April 3-9.
Del Villar had a monster series at the plate against Philander Smith. He went 10-for-14, with eight hits going for extra bases – six doubles and two home runs. Del Villar drove in seven runs and scored six. He had multiple hits in all three games. In the opener on Friday, he went 3-for-4 with three doubles, a run and RBI. Del Villar picked up two hits, a run and RBI in the second game. In Saturday's finale, he recorded his second multiple-home run game with a solo shot in the fourth and a three-run blast in the sixth. Both gave the Wildcats the lead. Del Villar recorded five hits, becoming the first Wildcat to accomplish the feat since Dominic Tezeno did it against Texas College in 2018.
In 22 games, Del Villar is tied for fourth in the conference with four home runs. He ranks in the top 10 with 22 RBIs, and six doubles. Del Villar is batting .457 and has a .891 slugging percentage. Additionally, he's made eight appearances with seven starts on the mound. He is tied for fourth in the conference with three wins.
Porter helped secure two of the three victories coming out of the bullpen. He pitched three innings in Friday's second game – only allowing two hits to lock up a 9-3 victory. He struck out eight batters – including six straight from the fifth to the seventh inning. In Saturday's finale, Porter threw the last 5 1/3 innings to pick up his third victory of the season. He held Philander Smith scoreless in three innings after it scored in four of the first five innings. Porter struck out four.
Through 11 appearances on the mound, Porter leads the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference with a 4.13 earned run average. He is second in the conference with 57 strikeouts and tied for fourth with three wins. Porter is one of nine players in the conference with a save.
This is the third and fourth weekly awards won by a Wildcat. Allan Mendoza earned Player of the Week for February 20-26 and A.J. Garcia won Pitcher of the Week for March 6-12.
The Wildcats host No. 24 Southwestern Assemblies of God University on Tuesday. They will host their first Gulf Coast Athletic Conference series against Tougaloo College on Saturday and Sunday.
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