SAN MATEO, Calif. – BYU freshman Mason Strong was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week on Monday afternoon for his performance over the weekend at Nebraska. The catcher from Santa Clara, Utah, helped the Cougars to a 3-1 series victory over the Big 10 powerhouse Cornhuskers.
Strong appeared in all three BYU victories at Nebraska. He hit .333 for the series with a slugging percentage of .667 and was at his best with the game on the line. In the second game of the double header on Friday, he broke a 6-6 tie in the top of the eighth inning with a solo home run that proved to be the game winner in a 7-6 Cougar victory.
The next day, in the series finale, he singled in the seventh inning to move the tying run to third, and later scored the winning run to give BYU a 4-3 win. Strong also threw out two runners trying to steal second, one in each game.
In 10 games this season, Strong is hitting .286, with eight hits, five RBI and five runs scored in 28 at-bats. The WCC Player of the Week award is the first of his BYU career.
Strong becomes the fifth Cougar to receive a weekly honor by WCC in 2022, joining players of the week Cole Gambill (Feb. 28) and Ozzie Pratt (Aril 11) and pitchers of the week Janzen Keisel (Jan. 21) and Bryce Robison (April 11).
BYU returns to action versus rival Utah on Tuesday, April 19, at Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. MDT and will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network, while the audio broadcast can be heard on the BYU Sports Network—107.9 FM, BYUCougars.com and BYU Cougars app. The Cougars defeated the Utes in the first meeting of the year on March 15 by a score of 10-3.
Following the midweek game, BYU will resume WCC play against San Diego in a three-game series at Miller Park, April 21-23.