SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - Riding a streak of five consecutive multi-hit games, junior infielder Martin Vincelli-Simard was named the Western Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week on Monday after a stellar showing at the plate helped Sacramento State to a 4-0 week and its first league sweep of the 2022 campaign.

It is the first career weekly award from the conference office for the Boisbriand, Quebec, native and the second offensive honor of the year for a Hornet after Dawsen Bacho collected weekly laurels back on April 18. Freshman teammate Colin Hunter has also earned WAC weekly honors, picking up the first pitcher of the week award of the season back on Feb. 21.

Entering the week batting just .218 on the year, Vincelli-Simard picked up right where he left off in his three-hit game to close out the Grand Canyon series on May 8, finishing with two-or-more hits in each of the Hornets’ contests last week, hitting .563 (9-for-16) with nine total hits, seven runs scored, six extra base hits, and seven RBI to raise his batting average 59 points to .277 on the year.

For the week, Vincelli-Simard slugged 1.188 thanks to four doubles and a pair of home runs, while posting a .579 on-base percentage after also drawing a walk and absorbing a hit by pitch. He also lofted a sacrifice fly to drive in a run — one of six on the week for the Hornets, who entered the four-game stretch leading the NCAA in the category.

Vincelli-Simard opened the week with his second straight three-hit game to tie his career high, finishing 3-for-5 with three runs scored, a home run, and three RBI in an 11-9 midweek win on the road at Fresno State. The three runs batted in matched his season high, while the home run was his first in a month since leaving the yard at New Mexico State.

As Sacramento State opened its final WAC series of the regular season, Vincelli-Simard proceeded to rattle off three-straight two-hit games as the Hornets completed the sweep of Utah Valley, scoring four times and driving in four-runs, including a pair of doubles in Saturday’s 5-2 victory and double and a home run to help his team to a “Senior Day” victory on Sunday.

Since the calendar switched to the month of May, Vincelli-Simard has been the Hornets’ hottest hitter over the last nine games, batting .424 (14-for-33) with nine runs scored, seven doubles, a triple, a home run, and 10 RBI, slugging .879 for the month and adding six walks for a .500 on-base percentage. Defensively, he has been perfect at first base, going errorless in 77 total chances.

Having clinched the No. 2 seed for next week’s WAC Tournament at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz., Sacramento State closes the 2022 regular season with a three-game non-conference series against Bay Area rival San Jose State. The Hornets host the opener on Thursday (May 19) at 6 p.m. at John Smith Field, with the final two games scheduled for Excite Ballpark in San Jose on Friday (May 20) at 6:05 p.m. and Saturday (May 21) and 4:05 p.m.