Big Ten Baseball Weekly Honors Release
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois 1B Kellen Sarver was named the Big Ten Player of the Week, the conference office announced Tuesday. Sarver shared the award, the first of his career, with Michigan State's Bailey Peterson.
Sarver hit .500/.538/1.417 (6-for-12), with two doubles, three home runs, seven RBI and six runs scored in three games this weekend. His three home runs came in a span of four at-bats between Saturday and Sunday. He helped Illinois (21-20) move back above .500 and pick up a series win over Penn State.
This season, Sarver is batting .294/.369/.538 (35-for-119), with eight doubles, seven home runs, 32 RBI, 23 runs scored and 16 walks in 37 appearances (32 starts).
Sarver becomes the 39th Illinois player in program history to be named Big Ten Player of the Week and the first since Jack Yalowitz on March 11, 2019.
Notes
• Sarver had his first career multi-home run game and a career-high 6 RBI on Saturday night vs. Penn State. He hit a grand slam in the fourth inning and a solo home run in the seventh. Sarver and Jackson Raper are the only two Illini to have multi-homer games this season.
• Hitting .346 (27-for-78), with five doubles, seven home runs, 25 RBI, 18 runs, and a .679 slugging percentage over his last 21 games.
• He has at least one RBI in 14 of those 21 games.
• His 7 HR this season are more than his 2019 & 2020 seasons combined (4 HR).
• His fielding percentage for the season is .992. He has only committed two errors in 244 chances.
