SAN DIEGO – San Diego State's Zane Kelly was named Mountain West Freshman of the Week for the second time this season following his performance in the Aztecs' season-ending conference series at Nevada, May 16-18. The announcement was made Monday at the league office in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Kelly's accolade gives the Scarlet and Black 13 Mountain West weekly honors for the year, joining Colby Turner, who received Freshman of the Week recognition on five occasions (Feb. 26, March 4, March 18, April 1, April 8), while Jake Jackson collected the same three certificates (Feb. 18, April 22, May 6), along with Jacob McCombs' identical award on April 15.
In addition, Jacob Riordan (April 1) and Omar Serrano (May 6) earned MW Pitcher of the Week plaudits earlier this season.
In three games against the Wolf Pack, Kelly earned two starts in the outfield, posting a slash line of .583/.667/1.333 with two homers, eight RBIs and seven runs scored. He totaled two or more RBIs in all three contests and raised his season batting average from .282 to .353 as a result.
A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Kelly led the Aztecs in numerous categories for the week, including batting average (.583), on-base percentage (.667), slugging percentage (1.333), total bases (16) and RBIs (8) while sharing the top spot in home runs (2). The SDSU newcomer also tied for second on the team in hits (8) and runs scored (7).
In the Aztecs' big 16-11 victory in game two vs. the Wolf Pack, Kelly launched a grand slam for his first collegiate home run, compiling a 3-for-6 effort at the plate with two doubles and two runs scored.
With Kelly's help, SDSU's triumph in that contest ultimately proved costly for Nevada, which failed to qualify for the MW Championship despite taking two of three games from the Aztecs, as the Wolf Pack lost a three-way tiebreaker to Fresno State and San José State for the final two spots in the tournament.
The following day in the series finale, Kelly homered for the second straight game with a two-run shot in the seventh inning. He also walked and scored earlier in that contest.
Earlier in last Thursday's opener, Kelly entered as a pinch hitter, remaining in the game to finish with a 3-for-3 effort at the plate with a double, two RBIs and a run scored, as a belated SDSU rally fell short.
For the season, Kelly started 11 of 20 games, compiling a .353 batting average (18-53) with two homers, six doubles, 14 RBIs and eight runs scored.