DALLAS, Texas - - The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released its NCAA Division II National Players of the Week awards the week ending on March 30, 2025. Young Harris (Ga.) senior first baseman Jeremy Begora, is the National Hitter of the Week and Wilmington (Del.) sophomore righty Xavier Cortez is the National Pitcher of the Week.
It is the second time a Wildcat has been named the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week as Matt Warrington did in the 2023 season. Jack McDonald was named the NCBWA East Region Hitter of the Week last season, being the most recent offensive regional weekly award winner for the Wildcats.
Xavier Cortez (Vineland, N.J.) appeared in two games last week, throwing 9.0 innings without allowing a run and striking out 13 batters with only one walk. He came out of the pen for an inning of work against Felician, striking out a pair in the Wildcats' 13-3 win. He then started game one of the series against No. 18 Jefferson, throwing 8.0 scoreless innings while striking out a career best 11 batters. He only allowed four hits and a walk in the 5-2 win, improving to 4-1 on the season.
Jeremy Begora (Cartersville, Ga.) had a big week leading the Mountain Lions to four wins, including a sweep of Mount Olive. For the week, he posted a .588 batting average with 10 hits, 11 runs scored and 14 runs batted in. He launched five home runs and recorded five walks for a slugging percentage of 1.471 and on base percentage of .650.
The Wildcats are off this weekend and return to action next Tuesday when they face No. 10 West Chester in the Bill Giles Invitational Championship at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies. The first pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.
Division II Regional Players of the Week:
- Atlantic: Kaden Swaim, Concord (Hitter); Connor Blantz, Millersville (Pitcher)
- Central: Levi Lampert, Southwest Minnesota (Hitter); Maddox Long, Harding (Pitcher)
- East: Chris Polemeni, College of Staten Island (Hitter); Xavier Cortez, Wilmington (Del.) (Pitcher) (National)
- Midwest: Lucas Mead, Saginaw Valley State (Hitter); Isaac Epp, Truman State (Pitcher)
- South: Mikey Scott, Florida Southern (Hitter); Kaelan Racculia, Saint Leo (Pitcher)
- South Central: Connor Cox, St. Edward's (Hitter); Timmy LaChappa, UT Permian Basin (Pitcher)
- Southeast: Jeremy Begora, Young Harris (Hitter)(National); James Fordham, Georgia Southwestern (Pitcher)
- West: Daniel Murillo, San Francisco State (Hitter); Michael Panichi, Sonoma State (Pitcher)