Rosemont, Ill. - Illinois center fielder Carly Thomas was named Big Ten Co-Player and Co-Freshman of the Week this afternoon after leading the Illini to three wins and their fourth straight Big Ten series victory. The rookie is the first Illini to earn two Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors since the award began in 2011 and the first ever to collect three weekly honors, as she previously earned Freshman of the Week on March 30.

Thomas led the conference by driving in 10 runs over four games, slugging 1.077 with three doubles and a home run. She collected two hits and at least one RBI in every game, including going 2-for-3 with a home run and five RBIs in the Wisconsin series finale. Additionally, she hit two doubles with three RBIs and a sacrifice fly in the series opener.

The Fontana, Calif., native has been experiencing one of the best rookie campaigns in program history, posting the best batting average (.370) and slugging percentage (.669) and second-best on base percentage (.411), while breaking the rookie home run record and approaching the records for RBIs, total bases and doubles. She has heated up immensely since the beginning of Big Ten play, leading the conference in batting average (.549), slugging percentage (1.118) and total bases (57), while breaking Illinois' all-time record for doubles in Big Ten play.

Thomas shares both weekly honors with Northwestern freshman Sabrina Rabin, who paced all Big Ten players with a .769 batting average and .786 on base percentage over four games last week. She collected 10 hits with at least two hits and a run in every game. A speed demon on the basepaths, Rabin set a school record with four stolen bases on Saturday, totaling five swipes on the week.

Michigan sophomore Megan Betsa took home the remaining weekly honor, earning Big Ten Pitcher of the Week after registering an 0.82 ERA with just two earned runs over 17.0 innings pitched. She notched three complete-game victories, including tossing a no-hitter at Michigan State. The Wolverine totaled 32 strikeouts for the week, including 14 in the series finale against Indiana.

The two red-hot freshmen will have a chance to square off on Wednesday, when the Illini head upstate to take on Northwestern in a mid-week Big Ten doubleheader on April 22. First pitch of game one is set for 2 p.m. with both games airing live on Big Ten Network.