Valparaiso's Johnson and Lundeen Named Baseball Players of the Week

INDIANAPOLIS -- Valparaiso junior Mark Johnson and his teammate sophomore Dalton Lundeen have been named Horizon League Baseball Players of the Week for the period of April 7-13.

Johnson picked up Batter of the Week honors after hitting .643 (9-of-14) at the plate for the Crusaders last week. He started the week with a 2-for-2 effort, driving in a run and scoring another in Valpo’s midweek contest at Northwestern. Johnson stayed hot in the weekend series versus Youngstown State as five of his seven hits in the series went for extra bases. In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader against YSU, Johnson hit his first career home run and he hit another in the second game of the doubleheader as the Evanston, Ill., native went 6-of-8 with two home runs, one triple, one double and four RBIs in the two games on Saturday.

Johnson finished the week with a 1.357 slugging percentage and a .643 on-base percentage for an OPS of 2.000. The junior entered the week 0-for-20 at the plate on the season, but exited the weekend with a .265 batting average.

Lundeen pitched a gem on Saturday for the Crusaders to notch his second consecutive Pitcher of the Week honor and his third of the season. The Streamwood, Ill., native pitched eight innings, allowing just one run (unearned) and four hits, while striking out a career-high nine Youngstown State batters. He lowered his league-leading ERA to 2.00 and has now gone at least seven innings in his last four starts.

In his three Horizon League starts this season, Lundeen is 2-1 with a 1.99 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP.

Valparaiso (13-16, 5-4) is on the road for four games this week. They start with a non-conference match at Toledo on Tuesday, before beginning a three-game trip to Milwaukee (10-15, 4-5) on Thursday.

Other Horizon League top performers (Apr. 7-13):
Tyler Detmer, UIC (Jr., OH) - Detmer recorded a career-high with four hits and five RBIs in the Flames win over Oakland in the series-opener. He finished that contest a triple shy of the cycle. He finished the week 6-of-15 (.400) at the plate, with three of the six hits going for extra bases.
Mitch Ghelfi, Milwaukee (So., C) - Ghelfi paced the Panthers with a .412 average for the week. He went 7-for-17, scored four runs and hit a home run. His on-base percentage was .500, threw out 66.7 percent of would-be base stealers for the week and also picked another off.
Phil Lipari, Youngstown State (Sr., 2B) – Lipari batted .400 (6-of-15), while slugging 1.000 in YSU's five games last week. He homered, drove in three runs and scored twice in game one of the Penguins doubleheader versus Kent State. In the win over Valpo on Saturday, he finished a single shy of the cycle with three RBIs, three runs and a steal.
Andrew McCafferty, Wright State (Jr., 1B) - McCafferty hit .375 (6-of-16), scored five runs and drove in seven more last week for the Raiders. He hit a game-winning two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday night versus Milwaukee. He went 2-for-4 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored in the victory over UWM on Saturday. He finished the weekend 3-for-5 with two doubles, a solo home run, three RBIs and two runs scored on Sunday as WSU finished the sweep.
Tomas Michelson, UIC (Jr., RHP) - Michelson picked up the win for the Flames over Oakland on Friday, giving up one run in eight innings of work.  He allowed a season-low five hits in the contest, while improving his record to 4-2 on the season.
Jake Morton, Oakland (Jr., C) - Morton hit .692 (9-of-13) and had a slugging percentage of .846 in his three games last week. He drove in four RBIs in Oakland’s midweek win over Central Michigan. In OU’s win over UIC on Saturday he went 4-for-4 with two runs scored.
Jake Paulson, Oakland (Jr., RHP) - Paulson earned the victory over UIC on Saturday after giving up just one earned run in eight innings of work. He allowed five hits and struck out two in the outing as the Golden Grizzlies picked up their first ever Horizon League victory.

Horizon League Batter of the Week:
Feb. 17: Spencer Mahoney, Valparaiso (Jr., SS)
Feb. 24: Robby Enslen, Oakland (Jr., OF)
Mar. 3: Alex Jurich, UIC (Sr., C)
Mar. 10: Sean Murphy, Wright State (Fr., C)
Mar. 17: Kieston Greene, Wright State (Sr., OF)
Mar. 24: Tyler Detmer, UIC (Jr., OF)
Mar. 31: Ryan Solberg, Milwaukee (Sr., OF)
Apr. 7: Alex Lee, UIC (Jr., INF)
Apr 14: Mark Johnson, Valparaiso (Jr., OF)

Horizon League Pitcher of the Week:
Feb. 17: Joey Hoelzel, Wright State (Sr., RHP)
Feb. 24: Travis Hissong, Wright State (Jr., RHP)
Mar. 3: Jake Paulson, Oakland (Jr., RHP)
Mar. 10: Dalton Lundeen, Valparaiso (So., LHP)
Mar. 17: Joey Hoelzel, Wright State (Sr., RHP)
Mar. 24: Robby Sexton, Wright State (So., LHP)
Mar. 31: Jack Andersen, UIC (So., RHP)
Apr 7: Dalton Lundeen, Valparaiso (So., LHP)
Apr 14: Dalton Lundeen, Valparaiso (So., LHP)