DALLAS – Luke Reinschmidt, a junior center fielder on the Montana State University Billings baseball team, has been selected as the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association National Player of the Week announced by the organization Wednesday.
 
The week of plaudits started with Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Week for Reinschmidt, who then earned the NCBWA's Regional Player of the Week honor on Tuesday. All regional honorees become eligible for the national player of the week honor, and the announcement was made by the organization on Wednesday that Reinschmidt was the recipient.
 
"This is a great honor for Luke and our program," said MSUB head coach Rob Bishop. "He deserves this honor with the week that he put together on the road."
 
The Billings, Mont., native hit four home runs and went 12-for-33 overall in eight games last week during a road trip at St. George, Utah.
 
He beat out seven other NCBWA regional players of the week and became the second national player of the week honoree of the 2015 season by the organization.
 
Reinschmidt added three doubles and a triple to his four long balls, totaling 29 bases and a slugging percentage of .879 on the week. He also drove in a team-high 13 runs and scored nine times, while posting an on-base percentage of .447.
 
Reinschmidt had a dozen putouts starting all eight games in center field, and was also 2-for-2 on the base paths.
 
He is now batting .340 on the season and leads the team with five home runs and 18 RBIs. He is also tied for the MSUB career record in triples with eight, and is No. 9 on the all-time list in stolen bases with 11 (records date back to 2006).
 
After becoming just the third player in GNAC history to hit for the cycle in a game last season, Reinschmidt garnered his first career Player of the Week honor from March 24-30, 2014.
 
The Yellowjackets kick off GNAC play this weekend with a four-game road series against Central Washington on Saturday and Sunday.
 
Angelo State pitcher Steven Naemark was selected as the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week, after setting a new school record with 15 strikeouts in a win over Regis last Saturday.