Hitter of the Week: A newbie and a repeat honoree

This weeks hitter of the week is just a freshman, but he has earned back-to-back Viva the Matador’s hitter of the week honors. Cole Stilwell is just that good.

The designated hitter from Rockwall, Texas, recorded his first multi-home run game on Tuesday against the New Mexico Lobos. He went 2-for-5 on Tuesday with 3 RBI and two back-to-back home runs. He is only the second Red Raider to hit a homer in consecutive at bats of a game since Cody Masters did the same in his first two at bats just a few weeks ago against Wichita State. Tuesday was also Stillwell’s first multi- home run game and first multi-RBI game of his young career. By the end of Tuesday’s match-up, he had accumulated three homers as a Red Raider and doubled his RBI total to six for the year. His performance played a huge role in Tuesday’s a victory for the Red Raiders.

Wednesday was a little rough for the team as a whole. Stilwell struck out several times during the game, but finally managed a double to left field in the third inning. He added another run on the board thanks to a double down right field from junior teammate Josh Jung. Unfortunately, the Red Raiders dropped game two of the series in Albuquerque.

Stillwell kicked off the series against the Kansas Jayhawks with another multi-hit game - his fourth of the season. He went 2-for-4 on Friday afternoon and improved his hitting streak to six games with multi-hit games in three of those games. Unfortunately, he didn’t record any runs on Friday. He hit a single to left field in the sixth, but was tagged out on his way to home plate. Then, he hit another single in the bottom of the seventh, but this time it was Brian Klein who lined out to right field bringing the inning to an end before he could get back to home plate.

Saturday afternoon Stilwell recorded his second multi-RBI game of the season and went 1-for-4 with two RBI and two runs while also improving his hitting streak to seven games. Yes he had two runs, but only one hit. How does that work you ask? He was hit by a pitch in the fourth which was followed by a walk from Jung and another by Neuse loading the bases. When Brian Klein stepped up to the plate, he his a single taking both Stilwell and Jung to home. In his next at-bat and in the same inning, Stillwell then hit a single scoring both Max Marusak and Dru Baker and eventually scored himself thanks to a double from Jung.

Sunday afternoon brought a his hitting streak to eight games. Yes. He recorded a hit in every single game this week. It was another multi-hit game under his belt. This time, however, it was a three-hit game - the second of his career. He went 3-for-5, with two RBI and 3 runs. It was his third multi-RBI game of the season as well and his three runs were a career high for Stillwell.

Overall, the freshman is showing great promise. He was drafted in the 38^th round of the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft by the Houston Astros, but chose the Texas Tech Red Raiders instead. I am sure glad he did.