Las Cruces, N.M. - For the second consecutive week, Aggie first baseman Luke Hopkins has been named the WAC Hitter of the Week and National Hitter of the Week as announced by the conference office Monday morning and by the NCBWA (National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association), Tuesday afternoon. The conference award is the third of the year for Luke, who was also named National Hitter of the Week from two different sources last week.
Hopkins, a sophomore from Albuquerque, N.M. (St. Pius X HS), played in four games last week and hit .667 (10-15) with 17 RBI and scored 10 runs for the Aggies. He was 5-for-6 with six RBI against New Mexico and 3-for-5 with five RBI in the first game against Northern Iowa on Friday. On Sunday, he was 1-for-1 with five RBI including a grand slam in the win over Northern Iowa. For the week, Hopkins was also walked six times (four intentionally), hit three doubles and two home runs.
"Luke has been unbelievable lately," Aggie head coach Rocky Ward said. "People have tried to pitch around him and the biggest key to his success is that he's learned how to expand his strike zone when he needs to in certain situations. Early in the year, he was a little too patient at outside pitches and a pitcher would make a great throw and get him and he's decided that's not going to happen anymore. Now he looks for good pitches early in the at-bat and is more aggressive and he's had a lot of success, particularly in RBI situations."
In the two-week stretch in which Hopkins has received the awards, he's hit .571 in eight games with five home runs, 32 RBI, four doubles and has a slugging percentage of 1.114. In his 35 at-bats, he has 20 total hits, 18 runs scored and has an on-base percentage of .622. On defense, Luke had a team high 56 putouts with six assists and only one error for a .984 fielding percentage in the eight games.
The Aggies will travel to Albuquerque on Tuesday as they wrap up the season series with the New Mexico Lobos at Isotopes Park at 6:00 p.m.