Shaver named WCC Player of Week; next up UVU and Pacific

PROVO, Utah--Freshman Colton Shaver of BYU was named the Rawlings West Coast Conference Player of the Week on Monday.

BYU’s baseball team (21-19 overall, 11-7 WCC) winner of four straight games last week, hopes to keep the momentum going with help from players like the designated hitter Shaver. The Cougars are at Utah Valley University (13-27) on Tuesday, then resume league play in a three-game series at University of the Pacific (9-32, 6-12).

“I believe our guys are focused and ready to go entering tomorrow's big game with Utah Valley,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “We want to get the week started off right by playing well and hopefully coming away with a win Tuesday night.”

Scheduled to start on the mound for BYU against the Wolverines is freshman Maverik Buffo (0-1, 7.71).

“We've been playing very well of late and want to finish the last three weeks of conference play strong as we make a push to make the conference tournament,” Littlewood said.

Junior Kolton Mahoney (4-4, 4.52) will be BYU’s starting pitcher on Thursday at Pacific, followed by senior Brandon Kinser (5-2, 3.77) on Friday. Both of those games are scheduled to start at 6 p.m. PDT. The Cougar starter for Saturday is yet to be announced.

“Pacific hasn't had the season they had hoped for but they are talented and I know Ed (Sprague) will have them ready to play this weekend,” Littlewood said.

Shaver batted .353 (6-17) over the three San Francisco games last week and recorded four home runs to give him 10 on the season. The Cougars out-scored their opponents 30-17 in the four games and Shaver drove in 11 of them for a 1.118 slugging percentage.

Shaver opened the week with a two homer effort against instate rival Utah and then powered home runs in the series opener and the series finale against San Francisco. Five of his six hits were for extra-bases. Shaver leads the league in home runs (10) and total bases (87).