Freshman Rayner Heinrich named WAC Baseball Player of the Week

STEPHENVILLE, Texas - Tarleton State's true freshman was selected as the WAC Baseball Player of the Week, the conference announced on Monday afternoon. Following this announcement, Heinrich becomes the first freshman in program history to win a WAC weekly award.

Heinrich had a stellar week against Kansas State and SFA, recording 11 hits, five RBIs, three doubles, three runs and two steals over a four-game stretch. The Georgetown, Texas, native, had multiple hits in all four games including a five-hit performance on Saturday against the Lumberjacks.

Heinrich currently holds a six-game hitting streak, the longest active streak on the team. The freshman also holds the team-high for most hits in a single game this season with five.

On Wednesday against Kansas State, Heinrich tallied two hits and one run. In the second inning, he launched an RBI double to score and then scored on a wild pitch shortly after, giving the Texans a 3-2 lead. Heinrich also recorded a single in the fourth inning and his second RBI in the sixth inning, sacrificing to score Gostisha again.

On Friday during the series opener against SFA, Heinrich hit a lead-off single in the first inning and another single in the seventh inning to keep his multi-hit streak alive. This marked the freshman's 18th hit in just 17 appearances.

During Tarleton State's 14-8 victory on Saturday evening, Heinrich was responsible for five of the Texans' season-high 17 hits. With a .833 batting average in game two, Heinrich orchestrated his most dominant performance of the season. The freshman notched lead-off singles in both the first and third stanzas, followed by a double to left field that scored in the fourth inning. The hits kept coming for the young star, blasting a double to right field, scoring Shirey and achieving his fourth consecutive hit of the ballgame.

Heinrich set the tone in the eighth inning where he was responsible for the first of six hits in an eight-run inning for Tarleton State. The Purple and White went on to win the game 14-8 and evened up the series, 1-1.

On Sunday's series finale, the freshman tacked on two more hits to his weekly total and also tied his season-high of two steals. He sacrificed in the second inning to score for the first run of the game and launched a single in the fourth frame for his 11th hit of the week. The Texans went on to take the series against SFA with a 14-6 win on Sunday.

Heinrich will look to keep his hot streak going when the Texans head to Lubbock on Tuesday for a midweek matchup against Texas Tech at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.