Hayden Tsutsui Named MIAC Player-of-the-Week

2016 Mar 29

The Carleton College baseball team was in Tucson, Ariz. March 16-25 in search of warmer weather, but the hottest thing on the Knights' spring break trip was the bat of senior star Hayden Tsutsui (Northridge, Calif./ Chatsworth). The Carleton catcher batted .560 (14-for-25) with 11 runs, 5 RBI, four doubles, a triple and a home run in six games, and finished the week by hitting for the cycle against Carthage. For his performance, Tsutsui was honored with the MIAC Baseball Player-of-the-Week award. Carleton is a member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) and NCAA Division III.

Tsutsui hit safely in all six games, with four multi-hit efforts and he had at least three hits in half of his appearances. His crowning achievement was the March 25 cycle against Carthage, which is the first cycle at Carleton in at least more than a decade. He went 4-for-4 with a run and three RBI with a single, double, triple and home run. He also went 3-for-3 with two runs and a double against Oberlin and scored five runs in a 3-for-4 performance in a 21-10 win over Colby. Six of his 14 hits went for extra bases to give him a .920 slugging percentage for the week, and he drew three walks to help his .621 on-base percentage. Behind the plate, he threw out 5-of-7 potential base stealers, meaning he had more steals himself (three) than he allowed (two) in five games behind the plate.

The Knights' catcher is one game short of qualifying for the MIAC leader board thus far in 2016, but his .558 batting average and .621 slugging percentage would lead the league, and his 11 extra-base hits and .612 on-base percentage would rank second.

Founded in 1866, Carleton College is a national top 10, private liberal arts college in the historic river town of Northfield, Minnesota, 45 miles south of Minneapolis/Saint Paul. Best known for its academic excellence and warm, welcoming campus community, Carleton offers 37 majors and 15 concentrations in the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences.

For more information about Carleton Athletics, visit www.carleton.edu/athletics.