Northwestern University Athletics
Pat McMahon Named Co-Big Ten Player of the Week
4/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 18, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. - Junior catcher Pat McMahon (Mundelein, Ill./Carmel) was named Big Ten Player of the Week by the conference office today.
McMahon batted .600 in five games last week, helping NU to a 3-2 overall record and 3-1 in Big Ten games. In the Wildcats' midweek contest against Robert Morris, McMahon was 2-for-2 with an RBI, was walked twice and hit by a pitch.
In four games at Illinois, he was 10-for-18 with eight RBI and seven runs scored. In game one of the series at Illinois, McMahon became the third Wildcat since 1993 to hit for the cycle. In a game NU won 19-18, McMahon tallied six RBI, scored five runs and hit two home runs. In game one of Saturday's doubleheader, McMahon was 1-for-3, scored a run and doubled home an RBI. NU won 7-3. In the second game of Saturday's twinbill, McMahon was 3-for-6 with a run scored and another RBI. He hit his third double of the series as NU won 7-6 in 12 innings. In the series finale, McMahon was 1-for-3 and was hit by a pitch. From his first base position, he recorded 46 putouts and tallied six assists without making an error.
McMahon shares the honor with Neal Gorka from Purdue. Gorka batted .474 for the week, including .600 (9-for-15) during Purdue's Big Ten series with Indiana, with two doubles and three home runs against the Hoosiers. The senior hit a grand slam on Friday, accounting for all of Purdue's runs in the game, while in Purdue's 5-2 win on Saturday, he recorded a two-run double in the first inning and drove in the winning run in a 5-2 win. In Sunday's 25-8 victory, Gorka hit a three-run homer in the first inning and then bettered the effort with a grand slam in the second inning. The senior drove in eight runs in the game, which marked the second-best individual effort by a Boilermaker in the last 15 years. Against the Hoosiers, Gorka scored five runs, drove in 14, and had a slugging percentage of 1.333.
The Wildcats take on Valparaiso at 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon before hosting Penn State in a four-game series this weekend. Game one of the series begins at 3 p.m. Friday afternoon.
