By Ranger Athletic Department
Northwestern Oklahoma State University baseball redshirt senior Johnnuelle Ponce was named Great American Conference Player of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday morning
The honor for Ponce comes following a blow-out weekend in a 2-1 series win over East Central. Ponce earned a .412 average (7-for-17) during the series, with 23 total bases and 12 RBIs.
The Puerto Rican launched five homeruns during the week, with three in the first game of the doubleheader Monday afternoon.
The Ranger centerfielder is only the tenth player in program history to hit three homeruns in a game, joining teammate Justin Bundy who had done it in the 2018 season.
Of Ponce’s seven hits, five being homeruns, he also added a double which gave him a 1.353 slugging percentage for the weekend. With his bat as a threat, Ponce received six walks on the day as well which gave him a .565 on base percentage and allowed him to score 9 runs during the weekend.
After yesterday’s two wins, Ponce leads the league in home runs with 16 and RBI at 52, as well as fourteenth in the conference with an overall average of .360 sandwiched between Carlos Andujar’s .369 average (12th) and Bundy’s 0.359 average (15th).
It was the second time Ponce has received the conference Player of the Week honors, doing so on Feb. 20 of 2018.
Ponce joined Carlos Andujar and Colton Whitehouse as 2019 winners of the weekly award.
Northwestern was able to tally 46 runs on 50 hits over the weekend. NWOSU and ECU had a total of 37 hits in the second game on Monday, which tied the Great American Conference record for combined hits in a game.
Ponce and the Rangers will be back in action on April 19 and 20 as they play a home series against Southeastern Okahoma State University.