April 21, 2008
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Notre Dame sophomore designated hitter and pitcher David Mills (Battlecreek, Mich.) was named BIG EAST Player of the Week on Monday after leading the Irish to a 4-1 week, including a conference series victory at West Virginia. Mills is the third different Irish player to win the award and also made it three consecutive weeks a Notre Dame player took home the honor. Mills joins junior Evan Sharpley and sophomore A.J. Pollock (the past two weeks).
The Mountaineers had dropped just two of 22 home games entering the series with the Irish, but Mills batted .385 (5-for-13) over the weekend with two home runs (the first two of his career) and seven RBI to help keep Notre Dame atop the BIG EAST standings. He also added four runs scored, a double, triple and two sacrifice bunts.
Mills went 2-for-5 with a two-run double in the 8-4 victory in Friday night’s opener. He then added an inside-the-park home run on Saturday, before a 2-for-4 effort with a triple, two runs scored, four RBI, including his first career grand slam in Sunday’s series finale. The slam came with two outs and Notre Dame clinging to a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning. As if that wasn’t enough, Mills entered the game in the eighth inning, after the grand slam, and struckout the only two batters he faced on the weekend.
The Irish will return to action this week at Frank Eck Stadium with a non-conference tilt against Chicago State on Tuesday (6:05 p.m.) before traveling to Memorial Stadium, home of the Fort Wayne Wizards (A affiliate of the San Diego Padres), for a game against IPFW on Wednesday. First-pitch with the Mastodons is slated for 7:30 p.m. CT. Each can be heard live on ESPN Radio 1490 AM and UND.com.
— ND —