KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Missouri Western baseball senior outfielder Fahd Shakeel has been named the MIAA Hitter of the Week.

Shakeel was one of several Griffon hitters to have an outstanding MIAA opening series at the plate. The Edwardsville, Illinois native batted .583, slugged .917 and had a .643 on-base percentage as MWSU swept a three-game series from Fort Hays State at Central Oklahoma. Shakeel had a double, a home run and drove in three runs. He also walked twice and stole two bases in two attempts. On the weekend he was 7-for-12 at the plate with seven runs scored. His five-hit performance in the series finale tied an MWSU record for most hits in a game.

As a team, MWSU batted .351 in the series while Griffon pitchers held Fort Hays batters to a .160 average with 36 strikeouts. Griffon pitcher Anthony Castaneda was nominated for MIAA Pitcher of the Week, striking out 12 batters in a three-hit, one-run victory in game one of the series.

The Griffons travel to Missouri Southern to face the No. 25-ranked Lions in a three-game series that begins Feb. 28.

And Missouri Western softball senior outfielder Morgan Frost has been named the MIAA Hitter of the Week.

Frost had an outstanding week for the Griffons who went 3-3 across three non-conference doubleheaders that were added to make-up for canceled games. The Gilbertville, Iowa native went 13-for-23 at the dish with four doubles, three triples and a home run. She had nine RBIs and seven runs scored along with a sacrifice bunt and two stolen bases on two attempts. All that for a line of .565/1.130/.565. She added 97 points to her season batting average and enters this weekend batting .421.

She wasn’t the only Griffon with an impressive week at the plate. Freshman Brea Blanton drove in 10 runs and batted .563 over the first five starts of her career. Gabi Carter hit .429. As a team, the Griffons batted .368 over those six games with 15 doubles, six triples and two home runs.

The team will head back to southwest Missouri to take on Cameron University in a single game Friday, March 1 at 2:30 p.m. in Joplin. It will be the fifth game out of the last seven the Griffons will play in Joplin with the other two coming Tuesday in Springfield.

— MWSU Athletics —