STANFORD, Calif. – Junior Matt Winaker was selected as the Pac-12 Player of the Week for the second time this season as announced by the conference office on Monday afternoon.
Winaker had the biggest hit of the weekend to lead No. 9 Stanford (40-14, 21-9 Pac-12) to a Pac-12 road sweep at Washington State. For the week, Winaker was 8-for-17 (.471), with five runs, six RBI, two doubles, a home run, stolen base, 13 total bases, .765 slugging percentage and .471 on-base percentage. The first baseman also had a 1.000 fielding percentage on 31 chances.
On Thursday, the Alamo, Calif., native was 3-for-6 with two runs and a double, but his biggest hit came on Friday. Stanford trailed 3-1 in the seventh inning when Winaker delivered a game-tying, two-run double. One batter later, he scored the game-winning run. For the day, he was 2-for-5 with a run, two RBI and a double. Stanford completed the sweep on Saturday behind Winaker, who was 3-for-6 with a home run, double, two runs and tied a career high with four RBI.
Winaker has also reached base in 25 straight games, which is the longest for a Cardinal since Alex Blandino reached in 31 straight in 2014.
This is Stanford's second straight Pac-12 Player of the Week and the seventh this season. Winaker also won this award on May 1, and junior Jesse Kuet was last week's recipient. Quinn Brodey was also a two-time winner (March 7 and March 14). Colton Hock was named the conference's Pitcher of the Week on March 7, and junior southpaw Andrew Summerville took home top pitcher honors on Feb. 28.
Stanford was named the No. 8 national seed for the NCAA Baseball Championships, and will serve as Regional host to Cal State Fullerton, BYU, and Sacramento State, beginning on Thursday.
As the hosts, Stanford is the No. 1 seed at the Regional and will play fourth-seeded Sacramento State at 6 p.m. on Thursday. Second-seeded Cal State Fullerton and third-seeded BYU will open the Regional on Thursday afternoon. The double-elimination format continues Friday through Monday. All games can be seen worldwide on ESPN3.com.
Stanford will enter the postseason with wins in 21 of its last 23 games, including four Pac-12 sweeps and six consecutive series wins. Stanford's 40 regular season wins are the most since 2004, and the most overall wins since the 2012 team racked up 41. This is the 21st 40-win season in the 41-year tenure of head coach Mark Marquess, who is retiring at season's end.
TICKETS
Regional tickets are available here. The Regional All-Session package, which includes tickets to all seven possible games, is on sale for $60 and $45 for youth/seniors -- a significant savings over single-game tickets. General admission tickets will only be sold after all reserved seats have been sold. Single-game tickets will be available beginning on Wednesday.
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