Sheldon-Collins receives Big West nod as baseball ‘Bows off to hot start

The Big West Conference is taking notice of Hawaii’s hot start.

The league rewarded senior shortstop Jacob Sheldon-Collins with the BWC Field Player of the Week award on Monday.

Sheldon-Collins, who leads the conference with a .412 batting average, hit .533 (8-for-15) with three runs and five RBIs during a three-game sweep of UC Davis over the weekend.

The Melbourne, Australia, native, who tied career highs with four hits and three RBIs in a 6-5 win in 10 innings in Friday’s opener, collected four more hits in Sunday’s doubleheader sweep that pushed Hawaii into first place in the conference.

UH (16-15, 5-1) holds a one-game edge over Cal State Fullerton heading into a three-game home series against Cal Poly beginning Friday.

“It’s always good to put a couple of good games together, and coming off that UC Irvine (series) win, we knew we had to capitalize on it,” Sheldon-Collins said Monday. “To go to Davis and get that sweep is huge, and it’s not just me, but everyone is seeing pitches well and putting good swings on it.”

Sheldon-Collins missed two games with the flu against Chicago State last month and has been hot ever since returning to the lineup.

He’s hitting .490 (24-for-49) during that span with nine runs and eight RBIs.

Hawaii moved Sheldon-Collins into the No. 3 spot in the lineup and is 5-1 since.

Sheldon-Collins is on a seven-game hitting streak and is the only player in the Big West batting over .400.

Hawaii has won 10 of its past 13 and Sheldon-Collins has had at least two hits in nine of those games.

“It’s good for everyone to finally come together on offense, and the way Kyle (Von Ruden), (Alex) Hatch and Brendan (Hornung) are throwing, it gives our offense great confidence,” Sheldon-Collins said.

The Rainbow Warriors are second in the Big West with a .272 batting average, and all nine starting position players are hitting .280 or better in league play.

Sheldon-Collins, who is second in the Big West with 60 hits, ranks 23rd in the nation in batting average and 21st with eight sacrifice bunts.

He’s also the fifth-toughest player in the BWC to strikeout, averaging only one per 11.4 at-bats.

Von Ruden (2.39 ERA, third) and Hornung (2.58, fifth) both rank in the top five among Big West starting pitchers in earned-run average.