Tuesday, April 4, 2023

PORTLAND, Ore. – Central Washington’s Austin Ohland earned not only GNAC weekly honors after leading CWU to a sweep of Montana State Billings but has also been named the NCBWA Division II West Region Player of the Week.

Ohland becomes the second player in the conference and the first position player in the GNAC to earn West Region recognition this season after Saint Martin’s Justice Yamashita was named the West Region Pitcher of the Week earlier in the year.

The junior out of Maple Valley, Washington earned the honor after a dominant series at the plate against the Yellowjackets where he notched a pair of hits in every contest. Across the four games, Ohalnd posted a .471 batting average by going 8 for 17 with seven RBIs and six runs scored while hitting a home run and three doubles.

Ohland opened the week on a high, going 2 for 5 with four RBIs on a single and a three-run home run in the sixth inning of CWU’s 9-7 win on Friday. He followed that up with a pair of doubles and two more RBIs in the second half of the doubleheader while going 2 for 3 at the plate and also scoring a run to secure the Wildcats’ 4-3 win.

On Saturday, Ohland crossed the plate three times while going 2 for 5 in the first game of the day. He closed out the series by going 2 for 4 including an RBI-single in the sixth inning. Ohland finished the series with a .471 on base percentage and a .824 slugging percentage.

The regional weekly honor is the first of Ohalnd’s career. Selected by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, the West Region honoree recognizes the top player from the GNAC, CCAA and PacWest conferences.

Along with Academy of Art’s Brian Kraft, the West Region Pitcher of the Week, and the other seven regional player and pitcher honorees, Ohland is now eligible to be selected by the NCBWA as the Division II National Player of the Week.