From St. Joseph’s College Brooklyn, Clinton Hill

For the first time in their seven-year history, the St. Joseph’s College (Brooklyn) baseball team boasts the national player of the week as senior Joe Mendez (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) NCAA Division III National Hitter of the Week for the week ending March 30.

The slugger adds the NCBWA honor to his D3baseball.com, United States Collegiate Athletic Association and Association of Division III Independents accolades announced earlier this week.

Mendez had his way with Maritime pitching as St. Joseph’s swept the Privateers on Saturday in their lone games of the week. The senior went 4-for-5, smashing four home runs on the day, including a school-record-tying three in game one of the twinbill.

The outfielder concluded the opener of the doubleheader 3-for-3 with three runs scored and a career-high eight RBI with four coming on the slugger’s first career grand slam and the school’s first since 2010. During the doubleheader, Mendez hit for the home run cycle and became the all-time career home run leader in school history with 14 dingers.

The senior also finished with an impressive 11 RBI and five runs scored on the day and finished the week with an impressive .750 on-base percentage and 3.200 slugging percentage.

This was the fifth week for the NCBWA Division III National Player of the Week awards as voted on by a panel of Division III members of the NCBWA. Braden Johnson of Transylvania University was named the Division III National Pitcher of the Week after the freshman right hander tossed a nine-inning no-hitter in a 12-0 win over Defiance.