Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner
BASE | Lomeli, Banks Sweep WCC Player of the Week Awards
3/2/2021 1:00:00 PM | Baseball
SAN MATEO, Calif. — Saint Mary's Baseball is off to a great start to the 2021 season, and a pair of their players in particular had stellar weeks. Just announced by the WCC, Carlos Lomeli has been named the WCC Pitcher of the Week and Justin Banks has slugged his way to Player of the Week honors.
Lomeli is the ace of the Gaels pitching staff and he showed why on Friday against California Baptist, setting the tone for his first win of the season. Lomeli went 6.2 innings in Friday's series-opening start, allowing just three hits, no runs, one walk, and striking out a career-best 11. He needed just 105 pitches to get this far in the start, which was his first win since 2019. Five of his six full innings of work, Lomeli struck out at least two batters and he only let one batter reach third base. He now sports a 1.50 ERA after his first two starts. For Lomeli, this marks the second time in his career he has been named Pitcher of the Week by the WCC, also doing so in the final week of the 2019 season.
Banks provided the power for Saint Mary's this weekend as they won three out of four from California Baptist. Banks recorded five hits in the series, including at least one hit and one RBI in every game, and hit a home run on all three days. On Friday night, he hit a three-run home run that provided insurance runs for the Gaels, en route to a 5-1 victory. It also marked the first home run of the year for Saint Mary's. He then hit a solo shot on Saturday, and a two-run shot on Sunday afternoon. For the series, he hit .294 with an .882 slugging percentage, 3 home runs and 7 RBIs. For one of the newest Gaels, this marks the first time that Banks has taken home a weekly honor from the WCC and he is the first non-pitcher since Joe Vranesh on May 6, 2019 to be named Player of the Week.
This marks the first time since May 6, 2019 that one school has swept the weekly awards from the WCC, and it was also Saint Mary's: Joe Vranesh and Tyler Thornton.
Lomeli is the ace of the Gaels pitching staff and he showed why on Friday against California Baptist, setting the tone for his first win of the season. Lomeli went 6.2 innings in Friday's series-opening start, allowing just three hits, no runs, one walk, and striking out a career-best 11. He needed just 105 pitches to get this far in the start, which was his first win since 2019. Five of his six full innings of work, Lomeli struck out at least two batters and he only let one batter reach third base. He now sports a 1.50 ERA after his first two starts. For Lomeli, this marks the second time in his career he has been named Pitcher of the Week by the WCC, also doing so in the final week of the 2019 season.
Banks provided the power for Saint Mary's this weekend as they won three out of four from California Baptist. Banks recorded five hits in the series, including at least one hit and one RBI in every game, and hit a home run on all three days. On Friday night, he hit a three-run home run that provided insurance runs for the Gaels, en route to a 5-1 victory. It also marked the first home run of the year for Saint Mary's. He then hit a solo shot on Saturday, and a two-run shot on Sunday afternoon. For the series, he hit .294 with an .882 slugging percentage, 3 home runs and 7 RBIs. For one of the newest Gaels, this marks the first time that Banks has taken home a weekly honor from the WCC and he is the first non-pitcher since Joe Vranesh on May 6, 2019 to be named Player of the Week.
This marks the first time since May 6, 2019 that one school has swept the weekly awards from the WCC, and it was also Saint Mary's: Joe Vranesh and Tyler Thornton.
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