CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois first baseman Bren Spillane was named Big Ten Player of the Week, the conference office announced Monday. Spillane is Illinois' third straight honoree, joining Michael Massey (March 5) and Doran Turchin (March 12).

Spillane put on a show Saturday at Southern Illinois, going 8-for-10 with three homers, two doubles and six RBIs in a doubleheader. He had three homers on four hits in the series opener, becoming the 11th player in Division I to hit three in a game this season, then went 4-for-4 with two doubles in the nightcap.

For the week, Spillane hit .600 (9-15) with an OPS of 2.000. Spillane ranks fourth in the nation in slugging percentage (.887), 21st in doubles (9) and 32nd in homers (6) this season.

No. 24 Illinois (11-5) has won three Big Ten Player of the Week honors before the end of March for the first time in program history. The Illini are the fourth team ever to have three different players win Big Ten Player of the Week before the end of March, joining Indiana in 2014 (Kyle Schwarber, Casey Rodrigue, Dustin DeMuth), Purdue in 2011 (Barrett Serrato, Angelo Cianfrocco, Tyler Spillner) and Indiana in 2005 (Joe Kemp, Jay Brant, Zach Boswell).

This is the third time in program history Illinois has won three straight Big Ten Player of the Week awards. Joe Bonadonna, Casey McMurray and Brandon Wikoff won it back-to-back-to back in 2008 and Casey Fletcher, David Kerian, Jason Goldstein and Kerian won it four straight weeks in 2015.

Spillane was up for consideration for Collegiate Baseball's National Player of the Week award, but narrowly missed.