Wright State's Kopale and UIC's Michelson Named Baseball Players of the Week

INDIANAPOLIS -- Wright State senior Justin Kopale and UIC’s Tomas Michelson have been named Horizon League Baseball Players of the Week for the period of April 8-14.

Kopale picked up Batter of the Week accolades for the first time this season after a productive week at the plate.

He started the week by winning MVP honors of the Joe Nuxhall Classic as the Raiders won the title for the second consecutive season. He started the tournament with a 3-for-4 performance, driving in three runs, as WSU won 10-2. In the championship game, he was 2-for-6, scoring three runs and driving in two more as the Raiders outlasted Cincinnati, 19-16.

In the weekend series at UIC, Kopale was 1-for-3 at the plate in each of the first two games of the series against the Flames. In WSU’s series-clinching 11-6 win, Kopale was 2-for-4 with a double, RBI and one run scored.

For the week, Kopale was 9-of-20 at the plate, scored five runs and finished with seven RBIs.

Wright State (16-17, 6-6) is scheduled to play five games this week, playing at Xavier on Tuesday and hosting Dayton on Wednesday before beginning a three-game series at league-leading Milwaukee (13-16, 8-4) on Friday.

Michelson won Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season after throwing his first collegiate complete game and allowing only one unearned run in UIC’s series-opening win over Wright State on Friday.The junior from Naperville, Ill., saw the first batter he faced reach base on an error and after recording two outs, Wright State singled in its lone run of the game to take an early 1-0 lead.

From that point, Michelson controlled the Raiders as he struck out a career-high eight, walked zero and never gave up anything more than a single as the Flames won the series-opener over Wright State, 6-1.

Michelson ranks second in the conference with an ERA of 1.81, only trailing UWM’s Jake Long who lowered his League-best ERA to 1.41 after another stellar outing last week. Michelson’s 59.1 innings pitched this season also rank second in the League, while his 39 strikeouts are fifth.

UIC (16-16, 6-6) hosts Chicago State on Tuesday and plays at Northern Illinois on Wednesday, before travelling to Youngstown State (10-25, 6-6) to open a three-game series on Friday.

Other Horizon League Top Performers (Apr. 8-14)
Ryan Boss, UIC (Jr., OF) - Boss hit .333 in the Flames weekend series with Wright State. All three of his hits went for extra bases - double and two home runs - as he drove in six runs and scored four himself.
Russ Harless, Youngstown State (So., RHP) - Harless posted a quality start at West Virginia, allowing two runs on seven hits in six innings. He earned the win in the series-finale at Valparaiso, striking out the only batter he faced.
Cody Kopilchack, Wright State (Sr., LHP) - Kopilchack pitched 4.1 scoreless, hitless relief innings against Miami, recording six strikeouts. He struck out six in three hitless innings in start at UIC.
Karch Kowalczyk, Valparaiso (Jr., RHP) - Kowalczyk maintained his perfect ERA with two scoreless innings against Youngstown State to earn his third save of the season.
Jake Long, Milwaukee (Sr., RHP) - Long won his fifth game in a row - a 4-0 win at Saint Louis - striking out three as he recorded his NCAA-best third shutout of the season.
Michael Porcaro, Milwaukee (So., 2B) - Porcaro batted .538 in the series at Saint Louis with seven hits in three games. He drove in the first two runs of UWM’s 4-0 series-opening win on a single in the third inning.
Kyle Schneider, Valparaiso (So., OF) - Schneider hit .600 at the plate as the Crusaders won their weekend at Youngstown State. He scored two runs and drove in three in the series. He is now batting .440 in HL play this season.
Neil Schroth, Youngstown State (Jr., 2B) - Schroth had hits in four games last week, finishing the week with a .316 batting average at the plate.

Horizon League Batters of the Week
Feb. 11-17          Will Fadness, Milwaukee
Feb. 18-24          Alex Grunenwald, UIC
Feb. 25-Mar. 3    Drew Dosch, Youngstown State
Mar. 4-10            Alex Grunenwald, UIC
Mar. 11-17          Kieston Greene, Wright State
Mar. 18-24          Garrett Gray, Wright State
Mar. 25-31          Marcus Heath, Youngstown State
Apr. 1-7              Phil Lipari, Youngstown State
Apr. 8-14            Justin Kopale, Wright State

Horizon League Pitchers of the Week
Feb. 11-17         Tomas Michelson, UIC
Feb. 18-24         Robert Switka, Youngstown State
Feb. 25-Mar. 3   Joey Begel, UIC
Mar. 4-10           Cale Tassi, Milwaukee
Mar. 11-17         Jake Long, Milwaukee
Mar. 18-24         Jake Long, Milwaukee
Mar. 25-31         Jake Long, Milwaukee
Apr. 1-7              Patrick O’Brien, Youngstown State
Apr. 8-14           Tomas Michelson, UIC