Clemson's Byrd named ACC Baseball Player of the Week
GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – Clemson senior infielder/outfielder Grayson Byrd has been named the ACC Baseball Player of the Week, while Georgia Tech junior lefthander Connor Thomas is Pitcher of the Week.
ACC weekly honors are determined by a vote of a select media panel. Byrd collects the honor for the second time this season, while Thomas also secures his second weekly award of the year. Byrd and Thomas captured the final weekly honors of 2019, as this past weekend’s play wrapped up the ACC regular season.
Byrd hit .389 during a 3-1 week for the Tigers, highlighted by a series win against Wake Forest. He was 7-for-18 with four home runs, 10 RBIs, six runs and a 1.056 slugging percentage. The Milton, Georgia, native hit a home run in each of the four games on the week and has homered in 10 of the last 13 games.
Byrd also did not commit an error in 32 chances in the field. At Coastal Carolina last Tuesday, Byrd was 3-for-6 with a grand slam and six RBIs, then hit three home runs in the Wake Forest series.
On the season, he is hitting .326 with 46 runs, 14 doubles, two triples, 15 homers, 56 RBIs, a .604 slugging percentage, .405 on-base percentage and four steals in 56 games.
Thomas threw his second complete-game shutout of the season last Friday to help Georgia Tech clinch the series and ACC Coastal Division. He bested his previous record of 96 pitches in a shutout, needing only 93 pitches to accomplish the feat against the Pittsburgh Panthers.
A native of Omega, Georgia, Thomas struck out nine batters to surpass 200 career strikeouts. He took a one-hitter into the ninth inning and finished the game with just two hits surrendered, both of which were singles. He retired 14-straight batters at one point en route to tossing the fifth complete game of his career.
Thomas is now 9-1 on the year and ranks among the top 10 of the ACC with a 3.11 earned run average (ERA).
Clemson’s Official Release:
Senior infielder/outfielder Grayson Byrd was named ACC Player-of-the-Week, announced Monday by the ACC office. Georgia Tech lefthander Connor Thomas was recognized as ACC Pitcher-of-the-Week. Weekly honorees for ACC baseball are selected by a vote of a media panel and announced on Mondays throughout the regular season.
Byrd continued his hot hitting by going 7-for-18 (.389) with four home runs, 10 RBIs, six runs, a 1.056 slugging percentage, walk and steal in four games, including two wins over Wake Forest and a win at Coastal Carolina, last week.
He hit a home run in each of the four games on the week and has hit 10 homers in the last 13 games. He also did not commit an error in 32 chances in the field on the week. He went 3-for-6 with a grand slam and six RBIs at Coastal Carolina on Tuesday, then hit three home runs in the Wake Forest series.
It marked the second time in his career he received ACC Player-of-the-Week honors, as Byrd earned that accolade on April 1, 2019.
On the season, he is hitting .326 with 46 runs, 14 doubles, two triples, 15 homers, 56 RBIs, a .604 slugging percentage, .405 on-base percentage and four steals in 56 games.