BELTON (March 9, 2009)--University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball players Joseph Villegas and Jared Hopper have been named American Southwest Conference West Division Players of the Week for the week ending March 7th. Villegas took West Division Hitter of the Week honors and Hopper was named West Division Co-Pitcher of the Week.

Villegas, a junior outfielder from Hays High School, was 10-17 for a .588 batting average on the way to West Division Hitter of the Week honors. Villegas drove in 10 runs and scored six runs. He blasted a pair of home runs and added a triple. Villegas had a career-high eight RBI in UMHB’s 26-7 victory over Southwestern University during the week. He also stole three bases and walked once for an on-base percentage of .611 last week.

Hopper, a sophomore right-hander from Northeast Christian High School in Kingwood, threw a complete-game, five-hitter in a 7-4 victory over Sul Ross State last Friday. Hopper struck out a career-high 14 batters and allowed just three earned runs while raising his record to 2-1 on the season. Hopper shares this week’s honor with Texas Lutheran righty Brad Orosey.

The Cru is currently 10-7 overall and 2-1 in ASC West Division play on the season. UMHB will return to action with a three-game home series against ASC West Division rival Hardin-Simmons University this weekend at Red Murff Field.