Oklahoma State has swept the Big 12 Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week with Ryan Sluder and Michael Freeman claiming the honors. Kansas’ Ben Krauth and K-State’s Sam Chadick are the league’s Newcomers of the Week.

Freeman notches is fourth Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honor this year, tying the conference record for most distinctions in a single season (Harrison Musgrave, West Virginia, 2013 and Ryan Rupe, Texas A&M, 1998). Sluder earns his second Player of the Week recognition for 2015.

The pair also swept the Player and Pitcher honors earlier this season (March 30). The Cowboys have racked up eight weekly awards this season, which ties for the third-most in a single season in conference history and is the most for OSU since 2013 when it totaled seven honors.

Krauth and Chadick are first-time Big 12 weekly award recipients.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Ryan Sluder, Oklahoma State, So, OF, Amarillo, Texas/Amarillo
Sluder helped carry No. 9 Oklahoma State to a 4-2 week that included three wins over ranked teams and series wins against 18th-ranked Texas Tech and Baylor. The sophomore outfielder hit .400 (8-for-20) in six games and led the Big 12 with three home runs and eight runs scored to go along with five RBI, 17 total bases and an .850 slugging percentage. Sluder’s hot week saw him raise his season batting average 20 points from .286 to .306.

A native of Amarillo, Texas, Sluder hit safely in five-straight games while also recording five walks, a .500 on-base percentage, three sacrifice bunts and a pair of stolen bases. He also played outstanding defense in both center field and left field, turning in several highlight-reel catches among his 12 putouts.
Sluder’s clutch hitting was on display throughout the week to help OSU move to the top of the Big 12 standings.

In the Baylor series finale, Sluder helped the Cowboys clinch a series win with hits in his final three at-bats, including a homer in the sixth inning of OSU’s 7-1 victory. Sluder’s heroics at the plate and in the field carried the Cowboys to a 10-inning midweek win over 15th-ranked Dallas Baptist. In the top of the 10th inning, he made a spectacular diving catch in center field to save the go-ahead run in a 7-7 game, and in the bottom of the inning, he smashed a three-run, walk-off home run with two outs to lift OSU to a 10-7 win.

In the series at Texas Tech, Sluder went 4-for-9 at the plate with a homer, three walks and five runs. His home run, a solo shot, came in the series finale and snapped a 2-2 tie in a game OSU went on to win 6-3. He also scored a career-high three runs in the game.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Michael Freeman, Oklahoma State, Sr., LHP, Broken Arrow, Okla./Eastern Oklahoma State
Freeman (7-2) continued his dominance against Big 12 lineups in a pair of starts last week and went 1-1 with a 0.64 ERA while recording 17 strikeouts and allowing only one earned run in 14 innings of work.

A senior southpaw, Freeman worked six innings in the middle game of the Baylor series. The game was postponed in the bottom of the sixth inning due to rain and resumed Monday. Despite taking the loss, Freeman allowed just one earned run on four hits and struck out seven. In the second game of the series at No. 18 Texas Tech, he worked eight innings and racked up 10 strikeouts, tying a career high, while the lone run he allowed was unearned.
The lefty held a no-hitter through the first 5.1 innings, at one point retiring 12-straight Red Raiders.

In the two games last week, opponents hit just .192 against Freeman, as he lowered his season ERA from 1.29 to 1.17, the second lowest in the Big 12.

NEWCOMERS OF THE WEEK
Ben Krauth, Kansas, Jr., LHP, Concord, Calif./Diablo Valley College
In Friday’s series opener at West Virginia, Krauth pitched 6.1 innings, allowing one unearned run while striking out eight Mountaineers en route to picking up his sixth win of the season in 11 starts. His 2.00 ERA in conference play ranks fifth in the league, while his 38 strikeouts rank second. In five league starts, Krauth is averaging 9.50 strikeouts per game. In his last three Friday night outings, he has allowed just two earned runs in 21.2 innings pitched for a 0.83 ERA, striking out 26 batters in the process.

Sam Chadick, K-State, Fr., OF, Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Northwest
Making his first career starts, Chadick hit .438 (7-for-16) with five RBI, a walk and a run scored in four games as the Wildcats won their first series at Baylor in program history over the weekend. The freshman turned in a trio of two-hit games in each contest of the Baylor series, going 2-for-4 in the opener and then 2-for-4 with an RBI and run scored in the middle game. In the series-clinching win on Sunday, Chadick drove in two runs, with the first RBI being a bases-loaded walk in the eighth that tied the game. The second RBI came in K-State’s three-run ninth, providing insurance with his second hit of the day. In Chadick’s first start of the week on Tuesday at Nebraska, he registered his first ever multi-RBI game when he drove in two with a two-out single in the eighth inning.

PHILLIPS 66 BIG 12 BASEBALL WEEKLY AWARDS