HILLSBORO, Ore.—For the first time in nearly three years, Lewis & Clark College baseball swept the Northwest Conference Student-Athlete of the Week Awards, the NWC office announced Monday afternoon.
Junior reliever
Nate Kerr earned his first career NWC Pitcher of the Week award and senior first baseman
Will Heron was recognized as the NWC Position Player of the Week for the fourth time. The duo are the first Pio pairing to accomplish the feat since assistant coach
Jack Thomson ('23) and reliever
Anthony Clerici ('24) were recognized on April 11, 2022.
Kerr picks up his first collegiate weekly honor after posting his first two collegiate saves. The junior threw three scoreless innings on Monday against Whitman and three more on Saturday against Puget Sound to help Lewis & Clark win back-to-back conference games for the first time this season. On the week, Kerr threw six shutout innings and allowed just three singles and one hit by pitch, while striking out three.
He opened the week by retiring all nine batters he faced to close out a combined one-hit, shutout with senior
Luke Ritter in a 2-0 win over the Blues. The shutout was the team's first since March 21, 2021. He came back on Saturday and threw the final three innings in Lewis & Clark's 7-4 win over Puget Sound. He left the tying run at the plate in the eighth and ninth innings, to help Lewis & Clark secure their first game one win in an NWC series of the season.
On the year, Kerr is 2-0 and tied for the team lead in saves (two) with sophomore
Bret Potter. Kerr owns a 2.20 ERA in 16.1 innings and has struck out 12, while walking just three batters.
Heron earns his second NWC Position Player of the Week award after exploding for six home runs and 12 RBI in the four-game series against Puget Sound. He finished the week 8-21 with seven runs scored and two walks. Heron produced a slugging percentage of 1.238 across six games. After starting off the week slow, Heron went 8-17 against Puget Sound and hit at least one home run in all four contests.
He started off the series with solo home runs in both games on Saturday, as Lewis & Clark earned a comeback 7-4 win and fell 2-1 in game two. He put together his second four home-run day of the season on Sunday. In the rubber match of the NWC series, Heron went 3-5 with two home runs and five RBI to help lead Lewis & Clark to a 10-0 (seven-inning win). The victory gave the Pioneers their first NWC series win of the year. He added three more hits (3-4), two home runs and five RBI in the final game of the series.
With his big day on Sunday, Heron became the 11
th player in program history to reach 100 career RBI (109). He also moved into a tie for 13
th all-time in career home runs (17) and is tied for 10
th all-time in career walks (71). Heron is only the 10
th player in program history to post double-digit home runs in a single-season. He leads Lewis & Clark this season in home runs, RBI (27), runs scored (24) and total bases (59).
The Pioneers will travel to California for four non-conference games this weekend. Lewis & Clark will take on #17 Pomona-Pitzer for a three-game set beginning on Friday at 3 p.m. On Sunday, Lewis & Clark will take on Occidental College for a single-game at Noon.
