Tanner Hawkins of the Kalamazoo College baseball team was selected as the MIAA Baseball Player of the Week on Monday (Apr. 1). This is the second time this season and in his career that Hawkins has earned the conference honor.
The Hornets continued their season by finishing the Florida trip against Colby and (RV) Augustana on Feb. 25-26 before beginning the MIAA season with a three-game series at Albion on Feb. 29-30. Kalamazoo was defeated by the Mules and Vikings 12-8 and 4-2, then swept the Britons 9-1, 18-8, and 10-3.
Hawkins was an on-base machine, reaching first 21 times with 13 hits and five walks, plus being hit by a pitch three times. He hit .722 (13-18), had a .808 on-base percentage, and a .889 slugging percentage in five games. Hawkins was especially effective in the Albion series, reaching base 15 times in 16 attempts by going 11-12 at the plate with five walks. He also collected 11 runs scored, three doubles, two RBI, and a stolen base. His best game came in game one of the Albion doubleheader when he went 5-5 with four runs scored, two RBI, and a walk. Hawkins was also perfect in left field, with 10 putouts.
Currently, Hawkins leads the MIAA in batting average (.605) and on-base percentage (.700) while also leading the team in slugging percentage (.868) and the least amount of strikeouts (1). He has also collected 23 hits, 19 runs scored, 11 RBI, eight walks, seven doubles, a home run, and a stolen base in 12 games. The junior is a career .367 batter with 72 hits, 61 runs scored, 38 RBI, 29 walks, 16 doubles, 10 stolen bases, and two home runs in 196 at-bats.
Kalamazoo will continue its season with home midweek games against Hope and Grace Christian on Tuesday (Apr. 2) and Wednesday (Apr. 3) before playing Calvin in a three-game series with a home game on Friday (Apr. 5) and a road doubleheader on Saturday (Apr. 6).