Season’s Best Six Wildcats Named CACC Weekly Players of the Week

Season’s Best Six Wildcats Named CACC Weekly Players of the Week

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - - A season-high six Wilmington University student-athletes have been named Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Players of the Week for their performances ending April 23, as announced by the conference office on Monday.

The baseball and men's lacrosse teams had two players earn weekly awards. Baseball's Matt Warrington was named the CACC Pitcher of the Week for the second time this year while freshman Tyler Pirrung was named the CACC Rookie of the Week. Men's Lacrosse's TJ Caton was named the CACC Player of the Week while Josh Lovely was named the CACC Rookie of the Week as well.

On the female side, softball's Kylee Gunkle was named the CACC Pitcher of the Week for the second time while women's lacrosse Ella Royer was named the CACC Rookie of the Week for the fifth time this season.

Matt Warrington (Millsboro, Del.) struck out a career-high 13 batters in his complete-game shutout over Alliance last week. He faced the minimum 21 batters in the seven-inning game, as the two hits he allowed were gunned down on the basepaths attempting to steal to end innings. He did not walk a batter in his outing. He improved to 6-0 on the year with the win.

Tyler Pirrung (Newark, Del.) makes his debut on the Weekly Reports, hitting .471 by going 8-for-17 in six games. He also had an on-base percentage of .550 and swiped four bags in four attempts last week. He had a hit in five of the six games, batting 2-for-4 with an RBI against No. 16 Millersville. He then went 3-for-4 with two RBI and two stolen bases in game one against Felician.  

TJ Caton (Palmyra, Pa.) led the Wildcats with 12 goals and 13 ground balls last week, adding two assists and two caused turnovers. He scored five goals while adding an assist and six ground ballas against Dominican and then scored seven goals on eight shots at Felician. He added an assist and seven ground balls in the win at Felician as well.

Josh Lovely (Columbus, Ohio) led the Wildcats with 15 points in two games last week. He scored five goals and added five assists against Domincan to become the third player (fourth time) to reach 10 points in a game in program history. He then came back and scored five goals at Felician in the team's 24-6 victory. It is the first time Lovely has been named CACC Rookie of the Week this season.

Kylee Gunkel (Highland, Md.) led the softball team to a 4-2 mark last week, going 3-1 in the circle with a complete game shutout. She tallied a 0.75earned run average in 18.2 innings, striking out 19 batters while only allowing two walks. She struck out seven batters in 4.1 innings of work against Holy Family and then went out and pitched a five-inning complete game shutout with five strikeouts against Bridgeport. She took the loss in 2.1 innings of relief in game two against Bridgeport, but bounced back and threw a complete game gem against Molloy, winning 2-1 while striking out seven batters and only allowing a run on four hits without any walks.

Ella Royer (Sherwood Park, Alberta) is no stranger to the Weekly Reports, as this is her fifth time being named the CACC Rookie of the Week. She tied for the team lead with nine goals in two games last week, adding two assists for 11 points. She also added 10 draws and two ground balls in the team's 1-1 week. Royer scored four goals on six shots at Jefferson, adding three draws. She then scored five goals on nine shots at Post, adding two assists, seven draws, and two ground balls in the team's 25-8 victory.

Softball's Sara Miller was named to the sport's Weekly Honor Roll after hitting .476 with four doubles, two homers, and 11 RBI. Women's lacrosse's Amelie Gamache was also named to the sport's Weekly Honor Roll after leading the Wildcats with 14 points in two games, scoring five goals on seven shots while adding nine assists.