IRVING, Texas - Baylor redshirt freshman
Linsey Hays was named Big 12 Player of the Week, the conference office
announced Tuesday. The weekly award was the first of her career and
first by a BU non-pitcher since Jordan Daniels received
it on Feb. 19, 2008.
Hays, who became the first freshman to win the
award in 2013, helped guide the Lady Bears to a 4-1 mark at the
Wilson/DeMarini Invitational that included a 6-2 win over host No. 3
Arizona State. In the victory over the previously unbeaten
Sun Devils, Hays went 3-for-4 with a home run, run scored and two RBI,
marking the first win over a top-five opponent since beating No. 5 Texas
at home on April 18, 2012 and the first over a top-three team since Feb. 27, 2010 against No. 3 UCLA.
The Brock, Texas, native, had a hit in all five
games of the tournament, batting .611 (11-for-18) with four doubles, two
home runs and eight RBI. Hays also recorded 21 total bases, slugging
1.167 to go with a .579 on-base percentage. The
left fielder finished with four, two-RBI games and four games of at
least one extra base hit, including a pair of doubles in a win over
Binghamton on March 1. Hays also had a career-best four hits and three
runs in a 20-4 victory against North Dakota on Saturday.
With Baylor baseball's sweep of the weekly awards on Monday,
it marks the first time in history the two programs have won Big 12
Player of the Week in the same week and first time Baylor has won three
of the four spring honors.
The No. 17 Lady Bears return home for a three-game series against Purdue (11-9), beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 9 at Noon.
