Tyler Minick of Gov. Mifflin is UECU Player of the Week
Gov. Mifflin shortstop Tyler Minick spends nearly as much time on first base and most first basemen. The guy almost always seems to reach base. In four games last week, the junior reached base 14 times in 16 plate appearances; over one four-game stretch he reached 11 straight times.
He doesn’t stay on first long. Sometimes he just touches the bag briefly, on his way around the diamond. That was the case last Monday, when he homered his first two times up, triggering a 12-4 win over Muhlenberg in a rare late-season meeting of unbeaten teams.
“That was one of the best performances a player of mine has ever had,” Miffin coach Chris Hole said after seeing Minick collect four RBIs, score three times and reach base all four times against the Muhls.
Minick continued his assault the rest of the week and has earned Utilities Employes Credit Union Player of the Week for the second straight week.
In four games last week he went 7-for-12 with five extra-base hits, seven RBIs and seven runs scored.
He also went five innings to pick up the win in a key Berks League Division I meeting against rival Wilson, essentially knocking the defending division champs out of a chance to repeat.
A few days later the Mustangs (17-0) clinched the division title.
“Last year he came up big for us in so many circumstances,” said Hole. “This year he’s just taken it to another level.
“When I say he’s the total package, I mean it. He does it in multiple ways, not just what you see with the bat or the arm on the mound.”
In 15 games, Minick is batting .523 with 24 runs scored, 20 RBIs and 11 extra-base hits.
He’s batting a staggering .696 with runners on base, has a .625 on-base average and a 1.045 slugging average. He has walked 10 times and struck out just four times.
On the mound, the University of Connecticut recruit has gone 3-0 with an 0.91 ERA.
“Whether he’s out in the field, on the mound, in the batter’s box, he just competes,” said Hole. “That’s probably the most impressive thing about him. He’s a kid that’s mentally tough and always a guy that you want up, or on the mound in a key moment.”
Some of those key moments came Monday in the showdown of unbeatens. Muhlenberg opened the game with a run in the first. Minick led off the bottom of the first with a home run, then homered again in the second inning to give Mifflin a 4-2 lead. In his final at-bat he ripped a two-run double.
“He went out there and hit every mistake we threw him,” said Muhlenberg coach Brian Kopetsky. “Good players will do that. He’s a fantastic athlete. We made mistakes and he made us pay for every one of them.”
Minick is the first player selected as Utilities Employees Credit Union Player of the Week twice this season, and the fifth overall.
Players considered for Utilities Employees Credit Union Player of the Week honors are nominated by their coaches or by members of the MikeDragoSports.com coverage team.
Also nominated for Utilities Employees Credit Union Player of the Week:
- RJ Emrich, Berks Catholic
- Carson Renner, Brandywine Heights
- Mason Walter, Daniel Boone
- Nick Sydor, Exeter
- Jake Karnish, Fleetwood
- Sam Martinez, Muhlenberg
- Paul Peterson, Oley Valley
- Brendan Bernhart, Schuylkill Valley
- Rueben Livingston, Wilson
- Pacen Ziegler, Wyomissing
Previously selected as Utilities Employees Credit Union Player of the Week:
- April 4: Kevin Lawlor, Berks Catholic
- April 11: Conner Licklider, Hamburg
- April 18: Luke Weller, Exeter
- April 25: Tyler Minick, Gov. Mifflin
