GNAC Baseball Athlete of the Week Report #7

PLAYER/ROOKIE OF THE WEEK Jack Kane., University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) (Fr., INF) First-year Jack Kane helped power the USJ baseball team to a 4-0 record on the week, including a 2-0 mark in GNAC play, as the Blue Jays have now won six in a row and eight of their last 10. The West Hartford, Conn. native hit two go-ahead two-run home runs in extra innings over the span of three days to lift the Blue Jays to victory. Kane first belted a two-run blast in the top of the 10th inning on Wednesday to defeat Rhode Island College, 12-9, in non-conference play before he launched another two-run home run in the top of the 12th inning on Friday to push USJ past Saint Joseph's College of Maine, 4-2. Overall on the week, Kane went 9-for-22 at the plate and slashed .409/.435/.727, driving in seven RBI and also scoring five runs.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK Chris Gibbs, Mitchell (Sr., P) Senior Chris Gibbs was dominant in his lone start for the Mitchell baseball team on the week as the New Britain, Conn. native tossed a complete game three-hitter in a shutout win over Rivier. Gibbs struck out a career-high 14 batters, in the process becoming the all-time strikeout leader in the program's history.

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL

AJ Cook, Elms - Went 13-for-23 at the plate (.565/.630/.609) while collecting six RBI and five stolen bases in a 3-3 week for the Blazers, highlighted by a 4-for-4 performance in a game one win over Albertus Magnus.

Trevor Juan, Johnson & Wales - Batted .545 with a grand slam and six RBI in three games last week. The Bolton, Connecticut native collected two hits in all three outings and his week was highlighted by smacking his first collegiate grand slam against the AMCats on Friday in a game one win. Juan's 33 RBI are the second-most in the GNAC despite playing seven fewer games than the leader, teammate Jeff Valdez Jimenez.

Aidan Vining, Johnson & Wales - Continued to dominate the GNAC, this time holding Anna Maria to four hits and two runs while striking out nine in 6.0 IP to move to 4-0 on the season. In the process, he lowered his ERA to 1.62 on the season.

Christopher Bulk, Lasell - Went 6-for-16 in a 4-1 week with two homers to drive in five batters, plating a .375 average.

Chase Supan, Lasell - Went six innings on the mound and fanned eight while giving up a run (1.50 era) in a road win over Fisher.

Eddie Kaftan, Mitchell - Turned in another strong week, allowing just two runs across 10 innings of work on the week. Kaftan made two appearances, including one start, going 1-0 with a 1.80 era with 10 strikeouts. He began the week by starting a GNAC game against Lasell, working seven one-run innings, striking out 10 to pick up the win. Kaftan then came out of the bullpen on Saturday against Dean, tossing three innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts.

Kenneth Miller, Mitchell - Had a big week for the Mitchell baseball team, batting .429 with one home run, seven RBI, and five runs scored. Miller Jr. was 6-for-14 and added one walk, without striking out once. He recorded at least one hit in three of four games, including a big 3-for-5 performance with a grand slam and three runs scored in a win over Wesleyan. Against the Cardinals, Miller Jr. belted the go ahead grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Johnny Cannavo, New England College - Was on base all week for the Pilgrims, going 7-for-9 with two walks across the team's two games. Cannavo went 3-for-4 against Clark on Wednesday with four runs scored. The graduate student followed up that performance with a 4-for-5 day in a win over Colby-Sawyer with three runs batted in. Cannavo batted .778 with a .818 on-base percentage this week while continuing to sit second in the conference with his .475 batting average on the season and first with a .584 OBP.

Jaken Pellerin, New England College - Crushed the ball this week, racking up seven hits across just two games. The freshman went 7-for-10 with three extra base hits (two doubles and one home run) while tallying eight RBIs and three runs scored. Pellerin went 5-for-6 against Clark on Wednesday, driving in seven runs in the contest. He came through with two more hits against Colby-Sawyer on Friday in a 10-8 conference win over the Chargers. The GNAC's slugging leader, Pellerin slashed .700/.636/1.200 this week.

Ethan Slowik, University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) - Pitched 7.2 innings against Saint Joseph's (Maine) while only allowing two hits and striking out eight.

2025 Baseball Weekly Reports

Week #1 - Week Ending Feb. 23

Week #2 - Week Ending Mar. 2

Week #3 - Week Ending Mar. 9

Week #4 - Week Ending Mar. 16

Week #5 - Week Ending Mar. 23

Week #6 - Week Ending Mar. 30

ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHEAST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 16 member institutions and over 4000 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 20 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience.

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