Virginia outfielder Mike Papi (So., Tunkhannock, Pa.) has been named the ACC Co-Player of the Week, as announced Monday by the league office. Papi shares the distinction with Florida State’s DJ Stewart.
The ACC Player of the Week nod is the first in Papi’s career and the first by a UVa player this season.
Papi had a huge weekend as Virginia swept a three-game conference series against Duke. He starred both in the field and at the plate. He went 6-for-11 (.545) at the plate, scoring six runs and driving in eight.
On Friday Papi threw the Blue Devils’ Jeff Kremer out at the plate to end the seventh inning. Virginia trailed 5-3 at the time, but the Cavaliers went on to score three runs in the ninth inning to rally and win, 6-5. Papi then reached base safely in eight of his 12 plate appearances over the next two games, with two of his outs coming on sacrifice flies.
Papi went 4-for-4 with three run-scoring base hits and four RBI in the series-clinching victory Saturday and followed it up by going 2-for-4 with the go-ahead, bases-clearing triple in the Sunday win to clinch the sweep.
Papi now leads the conference in both batting (.403) and on base percentage (.543) and ranks second in slugging percentage (.653). He leads the nation in on base percentage and ranks 12th in batting.
Virginia plays host to VCU at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the regular-season home finale at Davenport Field. The Cavaliers then travel to top-ranked North Carolina Thursday through Saturday to complete the ACC schedule; UVa trails UNC by one game in the Coastal Division standings heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
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