March 11, 2013
NORFOLK, Va. - Old Dominion University junior outfielder/first baseman Ben Verlander has been named to "LOUISVILLE SLUGGER'S NATIONAL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK" after he hit four homers and collected nine RBI over four games last week.
Verlander went 7-for-11 at the plate where he hit .636 with a 1.727 slugging percentage and a .727 on base percentage, as ODU took two of three games from Northeastern.
In Saturday's game against Northeastern, he went 4-for-4 with three home runs, including a grand slam and tallied seven RBI. His three home runs in a single game tied an ODU record which he now shares with Jeff Eure who did it against NC State on April 14, 1998, Matt Quatraro who did it at CW Post on April 6, 1994 and Nick Boothe (current head coach at nearby Virginia Wesleyan) who did it April 6, 1986 against Charlotte. Both Quatraro and Boothe are in the ODU Sports Hall of Fame. Verlander also hit a homer un at Richmond and knocked in a run on Sunday against Northeastern.
Overall, Verlander is hitting .500 with a team best four homers along with 10 RBI, which is second on the
squad. He is tied for the team lead in runs scored with 10 and has a 1.071 slugging percentage as well as
a .517 on base percentage.
He shares this national honor with Mark Appel (RHP) from Stanford, Joey Pankake (SS) from South Carolina and Frankie Vanderka (RHP) from Stony Brook.
Follow ODU Baseball on Twitter @ODUBaseball and find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ODUBaseball.