April 17, 2001
Notre Dame senior shortstop Alec Porzel (Lisle, Ill./Naperville North High School) has been named the BIG EAST Conference baseball player of the week, after leading the Irish to six victories during the week of April 9-15.
Porzel-who was named the 2001 preseason BIG EAST player of the year by Collegiate Baseball magazine-came through with several clutch hits and paced Notre Dame during the week in RBI (14), two-out RBI (8), total bases (18), home runs (2) and extra-base hits (4) while batting .409 (9-for-22) with two home runs, a triple, a double (.818 slugging pct.), eight runs scored, two walks (.458 on-base pct.) and just one error at shortstop (he has just six Es all season). He did not strike out or hit into a double play in 24 total plate appearances.
Porzel’s impressive situational batting during the week included hitting .615 (8-for-13) with runners on base (2nd-best on team), plus team-best batting averages with runners in scoring position (.545, 6-for-11) and with two outs (.455, 4-for-11).
His highlights during the week included a two-run home run in the 9-8 win over Detroit-making Porzel the first Irish player ever to reach 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in his career-plus a 4-for-8, nine-RBI doubleheader versus Georgetown.
Porzel has overcome a slow start to his final season by batting .361 during the team’s current 15-1 run, yielding a .262 overall season average. He leads the team in doubles (14, second among BIG EAST players) and shares the team lead in two-out RBI (12) while ranking second on the squad in total RBI (29) and third in runs scored (30) and walks (15). His 19 RBI in BIG EAST games rank second among all players in the conference.
His .966 season fielding percentage (six errors in 177 chances) ranks 47 points higher than the fielding pct. he posted as the Irish shortstop in 2000, when he totaled 25 errors in 62 games played.
In addition to already ranking as Notre Dame’s leader in career doubles (64), Porzel is the only Notre Dame player currently ranked in the Irish career top 10 for home runs, triples and doubles. Here’s where he ranks in the Irish career record book, heading into tomorrow’s Central Michigan game:
* 1st in doubles (64)
* 5th in at-bats (791, 169 back of J.J. Brock’s record 860 from 1994-98)
* 5th in RBI (181, 40 behind Eric Danapilis’ 221 from 1990-93)
* 7th in games started (208, 30 shy of Brock’s record 238)
* 7th in hits (243, 53 behind Pat Pesavento’s record 296 from 1986-89)
* 7th in home runs (31, 18 back of Jeff Wagner’s record 49 from 1996-99)
* 8th in triples (12, 12 behind Scott Sollmann’s record 24 from 1994-96)
* 9th in games played (213, 25 shy of J.J. Brock’s record 238)
* 10th in runs scored (160, 86 behind Pesavento’s record 246)