Jaspers Sweep Weekly Baseball Awards

Manhattan junior third baseman Chad Salem was named MAAC Baseball Player of the Week and senior Tom Costigan was selected MAAC Pitcher of the Week. Jaspers' red-shirt freshman catcher Ramon Ortega earned MAAC Rookie of the Week honors as Manhattan (7-4) won three of its four contests in early March.

Salem hit .667 (10-for-15) over four starts posting five RBIS and a home run. The third baseman from Rye, NY recorded a 1.000 slugging percentage and .737 on-base percentage, to go along with two doubles and a steal. Salem began the week with two RBIS and two runs in a 12-8 win at Fordham on Wednesday. In the opening game of the Jaspers series at West Virginia, Salem recorded a double and scored the decisive run in the 4-3 victory.

Salem was 3-for-6 with two RBIS and a double in the 13-1 game two triumph over the BIG EAST member, which extended the Jaspers win streak to six games. Then on Sunday in the final game of the set with the Mountaineers, Salem hit a perfect 5-for-5 with his third home run of the season and he scored two runs. Salem went .750 (9-for-12) from the plate in the three games at West Virginia, posted a 1.167 slugging percentage and .786 on-base percentage.

Costigan delivered his best performance of the year guiding the Jaspers to a 13-1 victory at West Virginia. Costigan tossed eight dominant innings, struck out eight batters, while yielding just four hits and one earned run against the Mountaineers who led the BIG EAST in 2009 with a .360 team batting average. The Cold Spring, NY native, held West Virginia scoreless through the fifth inning and he retired 13 of the first 15 batters. It marked Costigan's second win of the year moving him into a tie for fourth on the program's career wins list with Jesse Darcy '07 (22).

Ortega hit .500 (8-for-16) and posted four RBIS over four starts. The Miami native began the week batting 4-for-5 with a double and a triple helping the Jaspers to a 12-8 win at Fordham. Ortega also scored two runs and posted a RBIS in the triumph. Ortega drove in two runs, including the decisive game-winning run, on Friday in 4-3 game one victory at West Virginia. Ortega recorded another RBIS in Manhattan's 13-1 victory in game two, and then posted two more hits in the series finale on Sunday to extend his consecutive game hit streak to nine games.