SSBR College Weekly Awards – Week 6 – Sooner State Baseball Report

The 2025 season is here and so are the weekly SSBR awards. Last year we began bringing attention to individual performances turned in by those on small college (NCAA D2, NAIA, NCCAA) teams and junior colleges.

Each week we send out nomination forms to the head coaches of each team in the various divisions above. We ask them to nominate only 1 position player and 1 pitcher with their stats for the week and any context they feel would help their player. We look at those nominations and choose the player or pitcher in each category that we feel had the best week. Also, each player or pitcher nominated will get recognized even if they don’t win.

This week was a little different as the weather caused havoc on the schedule. Teams played less games or no games at all so the sample sizes were smaller. Also, several weekend series weren’t completed until Monday, so we pushed back the award a day as well.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the winners for Week 6.

Small College

Player of the Week

DJ Van Atten, Oklahoma Baptist Bison

Don’t look now, but the Oklahoma Baptist Bison are in a tie for 2nd place in the GAC only 1 game behind Harding. The Bison actually have the tiebreaker over Arkansas Monticello due to their series win a couple of weeks ago.

A big reason for that is the play of DJ Van Atten. The Senior infielder leads the Bison in AVG, OPS, 2B, and RBI. He kept it up this week and was named the GAC Player of the Week for the 2nd time. This is also the 2nd time Van Atten has been named the SSBR Small College Player of the Week.

Van Atten’s line for the week: G 3, .750/.857/1.250 (2.107 OPS), HR, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 5 BB, HBP, 6 R

Other players considered:

Gage Ninness, USAO Drovers
Andrew Ramirez, Rogers State Hillcats
Joseph Boone, SCU Eagles
Carson Wright, NWOSU Rangers

Pitcher of the Week

Ashton Luera, OK Wesleyan Eagles

A lot of attention gets paid to the Eagles offense and rightfully so. However, the Eagles’ schedule is peppered with some outstanding pitching performances as well.

Perhaps none has been better (for any school) than what Ashton Luera did on Sunday. Needing to not lose to any team they shouldn’t in the tough KCAC, the Eagles gave the ball to Luera to complete the sweep over York. Luera said, “I got this,” as he pitched about as dominant a game as one can. In a scheduled 7 inning game, Luera faced only 23 batters (2 over the minimum) and struck out 18 against no walks.

Luera has been so good over his last 4 starts that he has lowered his season ERA from a 3.27 to a 1.82.

Luera’s line: G 1/GS 1, CG, 7 IP, 2 H, 18 K

Others considered:

Brian Ereu, USAO Drovers
Elian Cueva, SCU Eagles
Will Kates, NWOSU Rangers

JUCO

Player of the Week

Easton Andrews, Redlands Cougars

Don’t look now, but the Redlands Cougars have already won 3 more games than they did all of 2024. First year head coach, Trent Troxell, has done an amazing turn around with this program.

Easton Andrews provided a ton of offense this past week at the Cougs went 3-0. He almost impossible to keep of the bases as he reached base 12 times in 14 plate appearances. Not only did Andrews reach base, he did it while providing damage as well

Andrews’ line: G 3, .800/.857/1.800 (2.657 OPS), 2 HR, 9 RBI, 3 2B, 3 BB, HBP, 6 R

Others considered:

Aidan Zakarewicz, NOC Tonkawa
Jhett Creel, NOC Enid
Junho Son, Murray State

Pitcher of the Week

Camden White, Eastern OK State Mountaineers

Eastern played their 2nd Region 2 series of the season this past weekend. If it wasn’t for the performance of Camden White, the Mountaineers would’ve been swept the Seminole State.

White provided a strong enough performance that allowed his EOSC teammates to win game 2 of their series vs the Trojans.

White’s line: G 1/GS 1, 1-0, CG, 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K

Others considered:

Jakob Holzer, Murray State
Maddow Lawson, NOC Enid

Do you like the content that Sooner State Baseball Report provides? Show your support by purchasing an official SSBR shirt or hoodie at our online store at the link below.

Official Sooner State Baseball Report Merch

Like this content? Don’t miss any posts. Enter your email in the box below and have Sooner State Baseball Report content delivered right to your inbox.