After what could be considered a magical week with the bat, Morehead State baseball junior designated hitter Jon Burghardt has been selected as the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week.
His selection is the sixth time an MSU athlete has earned a league weekly award this season, with six different players earning honors. That sets a program record for most awards in a season, breaking the mark of five established by the 2015 squad and tied in 2016.
Burghardt entered the week with no home runs to his credit in 2019, but he belted four of them in four straight games and all at pivotal moments in the games as the Eagles won all four contests.
Starting with the Wednesday affair at Marshall, his two-run homer in the fifth inning broke a 1-1 stalemate as the Eagle went on to defeat the 'Herd 8-2. he opened the Murray State series with a crucial two-run long ball in the ninth inning Friday night, bringing MSU to within 4-3 as they went on later to get a two-run walk-off single for the victory.
Burghardt, from Gig Harbor, Wash., slammed a three-run no-doubter on Saturday to push his team's lead to 7-2 over Murray State. After the Racers scored three in the next frame, those runs proved to be the winning margin.
He finished his prolific week with a solo shot in the sixth inning of game three, giving the Eagles a 4-3 lead. He also singled in the ninth inning down the right-field line which allowed a runner to move to third base and score the go-ahead run later on a short single.
Burghardt batted .333 on the week with the four long balls, eight RBI and five runs scored. He slugged 1.133.
