EUGENE, Ore. – Coming off a series sweep of Columbia, Oregon designated hitter Dominic Hellman has been named the Big Ten Conference Player of the Week.
Hellman (Mill Creek, Wash.) started all four games at DH leading Oregon to convincing wins that saw Oregon outscore the Lions 70-15 in the four-game series. Hellman slashed .500/.583/1.056 with a 1.639 OPS. He slugged three home runs, including a pair of grand slams in the series opener, while driving in a team-high 13 runs with nine runs scored and a double.
In a 20-11 win in the first game of the series, Hellman went 3-for-5 with two grand slams, eight RBI, three runs scored, while also doubling and reaching on a hit-by-pitch. With the game tied 3-3 in the bottom of the second, launched his first grand slam of the day to give the Ducks a 7-3 lead. After reaching base on a HBP and scoring in the fourth and doubling in the fifth, Hellman broke open a four-run game in the bottom of the seventh with his second grand slam to secure the win.
The Ducks’ DH had another big game in Oregon 35-1 win in the second game of the series. He reached base five times (3-for-5, 2 HBP), while driving in four more runs and scoring four times. After getting hit by pitches in his first two at-bats and coming around to score, Hellman picked up his first RBI with a ground out in the third inning. He added singles in the fourth and fifth innings, a sacrifice fly in the sixth and then a two-run single in the bottom of the eighth.
In game two of Saturday’s doubleheader and game three of the series, Hellman went 1-for-5 in Oregon’s 8-3 win. He slugged his third home run of the series in the eighth inning to wrap up the Ducks’ win.
In the series finale on Sunday, Hellman reached base four times (2-for-3, 2 BB) and scored once. He singled in his first two at-bats, before walking and scoring in his final two at-bats. The first run scored pushed Oregon’s lead to 3-0 in the seventh, while his second gave the Ducks a 7-0 lead.
Hellman is the first Oregon baseball player ever to win the Big Ten Conference Player of the Week award and the second to win a conference award, joining Burke-Lee Mabeus who was the league’s freshman of the week last week.
All-Time Big Ten Conference Players of the Week
All-Time Pac-12 Conference Players of the Week
