Student-Athlete of the Week - May 21, 2007

Name: Chris Balatico
Sport: Baseball
Year: Senior
Position: Outfield

Chris Balatico has been named the Spartan Foundation Athlete of the Week after recording three hits in each game of the Nevada series last weekend and helping the Spartans to a 2-1 record over the three days.

For the week, he hit .643 with nine hits and four runs scored. He had two doubles and a triple while recording a .929 slugging percentage and a .688 on-base percentage.

He now has 10 multiple-hit games in his last 14 played, with five of them of the three-hit variety. The weekend performance moved his batting average all the way up from .333 to .357, putting him second on the team and into the top 15 in the WAC.

In a 6-2 win on Friday, Balatico, hitting in the second spot all weekend as the lone left-handed bat in the Spartan lineup, went 3-for-5 with a career-high three runs batted in. Two came on a two-out double to left center during a four-run second inning. The other came on a one-out, bases-loaded single, also to left center, in the fourth.

In a 17-8 victory on Saturday, Balatico was 3-for-5, including his fourth triple of 2007 for a new single-season career high, and a walk. He matched a single-game career high with three runs scored, and had another RBI. During a nine-run first inning, he walked and scored the second Spartan run after his first at-bat, and tripled in the ninth and final run of the frame to left center with one out. He singled and scored in both the seventh and eighth.

Finally, in an 11-6 loss on Senior Day on Sunday, Balatico went 3-for-4 with another two-run double, again to left center, this time in the fourth with one out. It was his 12th double of the season. He walked in the first to become the first Spartan base-runner of the day, and hit a leadoff single and scored the first Spartan run of the game in the third.

Balatico will head into the WAC Tournament on a career-best and current Spartan-best eight-game hit streak. He leads the team with eight three-hit games in 2007.

Past 2006-07 Spartan Foundation Student-Athletes of the Week

August 28 - Jessie Shull - Women's Volleyball
September 5 - Tiffany Hall - Women's Cross Country
September 11 - Yonus Davis - Football
September 18 - Jennifer Sentfleben - Women's Volleyball
September 25 - Dwight Lowery - Football
October 2 - Adam Tafralis - Football
October 9 - Nicole Irwin - Women's Soccer
October 16 - Marissa Dayton - Women's Soccer
October 23 - Nicole Irwin - Women's Soccer
October 30 - Yonus Davis - Football
November 6 - Patrick Perry - Football
November 13 - Jessie Shull - Women's Volleyball
November 20 - Ashley Vrieze - Women's Swimming
November 27 - Waylon Prather - Football
December 4 - Christopher Owens - Football
January 2 - Alisha Hicks - Women's Basketball
January 8 - Lauren Mar - Women's Swimming
January 16 - Carlton Spencer - Men's Basketball
January 22 - Myosha Barnes - Women's Basketball
January 29 - Veronica Porte - Women's Gymnastics
February 12 - Deanna Lowry - Women's Water Polo
February 19 - Ashley Vrieze - Women's Swimming
February 26 - Alisha Hicks - Women's Basketball
March 5 - Veronica Porte - Women's Gymnastics
March 12 - Jenelle Gomez - Women's Golf
March 19 - Michelle Minotti - Women's Gymnastics
March 26 - Steven Vidal - Baseball
April 2 - Scott Sobczak - Baseball
April 9 - Tanya Torres - Women's Water Polo
April 23 - Kelly Harrison - Softball
April 30 - Erica Moston - Women's Golf
May 7 - Rosco Valentine - Men's Golf
May 14 - Marcus McKimmy - Baseball
May 21 - Chris Balatico - Baseball