Miami’s Zamora, Virginia Tech’s Gerard recognized
GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – Miami’s Freddy Zamora has been recognized as the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Player of the Week, while Virginia Tech’s Chris Gerard earned Pitcher of the Week honors.
ACC baseball weekly honors are determined by a vote of a media panel and are announced on Mondays throughout the regular season.
Zamora was dominant at the plate in keying the Hurricanes to a 3-1 week and a 2-1 start to ACC play. After helping Miami beat Appalachian State on Wednesday, Zamora had three hits, including two doubles, in the series opener against Georgia Tech on Friday. The sophomore shortstop hit a walk-off two-run homer on Saturday night that capped another three-hit night and evened the series with Georgia Tech.
On Sunday, he tied the game with a two-run shot in the first inning that sparked a 9-6 Miami win over the Yellow Jackets and secured a series victory.
Zamora finished the Georgia Tech series 7-for-13 (.538) with two doubles, two homers, four runs scored, four RBI, an intentional walk and a stolen base.
Virginia Tech’s Gerard took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and struck out 10 batters en route to his first win on the mound as the Hokies one-hit top-ranked (Collegiate Baseball) Florida State on Saturday and handed the Seminoles their first loss of the season, 6-0.
Gerard tossed a season-high 7.0 innings and struck out the side in the third while recording a season-high in strikeouts as well. Gerard walked two batters in the second inning before retiring 13 straight, including perfect innings in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth. He walked the leadoff batter in the seventh, then allowed the first (and only hit of the day) to the next batter before retiring the last three to keep the Seminoles off the board.
It marked the longest no-hit bid by a Virginia Tech pitcher in the last 15 years. Gerard became just the third Hokies freshman pitcher in an ACC regular-season game to win a start on the road and just the second Virginia Tech freshman pitcher to strike out 10 batters in an ACC game.
Gerard has thrown 17 straight innings without allowing an earned run, lowering his ERA to 0.43 and has pitched 11.2 consecutive scoreless innings. Saturday’s game also marked fewest hits allowed by a Virginia Tech staff in a nine-inning game over the last 15 years.