Joe Mazzuca Named MVC Co-Player of the Week
5/1/2001 7:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 30, 2001
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - After helping Creighton's baseball team go 5-0 last week, sophomore second baseman Joe Mazzuca has become the first Bluejay player to earn recognition from the Missouri Valley Conference this season. Late on Monday, Mazzuca was named MVC Co-Player of the Week by league Commissioner Doug Elgin.
Mazzuca (Elmwood Park, Ill. / Holy Cross HS) helped Creighton record an 11-8 win against top-ranked Nebraska and earn its first conference series sweep of the year by batting .500 (7-for-14). All seven of Mazzuca's hits went for extra bases, as he had three doubles and four home runs for a 1.571 slugging percentage.
All four of Mazzuca's round-trippers came during a four-game sweep of Bradley, including two in the series finale. He now leads CU with 10 home runs this season. Mazzuca also drove in nine runs and scored seven times for the Bluejays, who improved to 21-22 overall and 11-13 in The Valley.
For the season, the transfer from St. Joseph's (Ind.) College is batting .349 with team-leading totals of 40 runs scored, 13 doubles, 10 homers and a .671 slugging percentage.
Mazzuca shared league honors with Northern Iowa All-American Ryan Brunner, who went 10-for-16 (.625) with seven homers, 17 RBI and 11 runs scored in four games last week. Southwest Missouri State's Matt Palmer was named the MVC Pitcher of the Week after throwing a complete-game four-hitter with 10 strikeouts in an 8-3 win over Wichita State.
