COLORADO SPRINGS -- BYU junior righthander James Platt and San Diego State senior outfielder Garrick Evans were named Mountain West Conference Pitcher and Player of the Week, respectively. This is the first career weekly honor for both recipients.
Platt, a Cedar City, Utah, native, came on in relief to earn the save in BYU's season-opening upset of No. 17 UC Irvine. In 4.0 innings of work, he gave up no hits and one walk, while striking out a batter in the Cougars' 5-2 win.
The 6-3, 200-pound Platt retired the first 11 batters he faced in last Thursday's victory. The only Anteater runner to get on base was with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Platt finished off the Anteaters striking out the last batter he faced for the save. He threw 47 pitches, 29 of which were strikes.
Platt kept the Anteaters off balance all night long. BYU Head Coach Vance Law was impressed with the junior's outing.
"Platt commanded the strike zone, and kept the UCI batters off-balanced all night," Law said. "Almost all of his outs were ground balls."
Platt ended his sophomore season on the mound for the Dixie State (Utah) Rebels, finishing off the final batters to help the Rebels win the National Junior College Championship.
Evans, from Burke, Va., went 7-for-17 (.412) from the plate with a home run, a double, three RBI and four runs scored in four games for the Aztecs last week. He started the week with a 3-for-4, one RBI, two runs scored performance in a 15-6 win over Cal State Northridge. In game one of a three-game series vs. North Carolina State, he was 2-for-5 with a stolen base. In game two, Evans was 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored, and concluded the series with another 1-for-4 outing, with a home run, two RBI and a run scored. Defensively, Evans was perfect from the field with 22 putouts.