University of Louisville junior Brendan McKay was named Monday as the ACC Co-Player of the Week. Additionally, both McKay and junior Drew Ellis were named as National Players of the Week by Collegiate Baseball newspaper.
ACC weekly honors are determined by a vote of a select media panel. This is the sixth career weekly award for McKay (five Pitcher of the Week honors, including three this season, and one Player of the Week award), tying the all-time ACC record for weekly recognition held by Clemson’s Kris Benson, Florida State’s J.D. Drew, and Paul Wilson, and NC State’s Terry Harvey.
McKay and Ellis were among the nine players selected by Collegiate Baseball newspaper as national standouts for the week. Louisville was the only school with multiple players on this week’s list. McKay shared the latest ACC Player of the Week honor with NC State’s Joe Dunand, while North Carolina’s Josh Hiatt was chosen as the ACC Pitcher of the Week.
McKay hit .429 with six home runs, 12 RBIs and a 1.286 slugging percentage as the No. 2 Cardinals went 5-0 overall last week. On Tuesday, he matched a school record with four home runs to go with a career-best nine RBIs in the 14-4 win at Eastern Kentucky. The four home runs is tied for the third most in a game in NCAA history. While hitting safely in all five games for the Cardinals, the first baseman from Darlington, Pennsylvania, capped the week with another multi-home run performance, connecting for two homers and three RBIs in Sunday’s 17-2 win against Toledo. On the mound, the lefthander finished with 12 strikeouts in eight innings to earn the victory in Friday’s series-opening win against Toledo. On the season, McKay has a .394 batting average with 13 home runs, 42 RBI, .514 on-base percentage and .739 slugging percentage.
Ellis was outstanding last week hitting .611 (11-for-18) with four home runs, two doubles, one triple, seven RBI, .636 on-base percentage and 1.500 slugging percentage for Louisville. The infielder finished with at least two hits in each of the five games, including connecting for a pair of home runs in the 6-4 win over Northern Kentucky on Wednesday night. The Jeffersonville, Indiana native had an extra-base hit in four of the five games and drove in at least one run in four of the games. Overall, Ellis leads No. 2 Louisville with .403 batting average, 13 home runs, 44 RBI, 13 doubles and a .753 slugging percentage to go along with a .497 on-base percentage.
Up next, No. 2 Louisville concludes its homestand with a midweek visit from Miami (Ohio) on Tuesday at 6 p.m., ET at Jim Patterson Stadium.
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Garett Wall
Assistant Sports Information Director