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T.J. Collett Named SEC Player of the Week

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LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky’s T.J. Collett is the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week after he hit game-winning home runs in both ends of a doubleheader sweep of No. 10 Ole Miss in Oxford over the weekend, the league announced on Monday.

The junior first baseman/designated hitter helped power the Wildcats to their first road series win against a Top 10 opponent since 2015 with a pair of blasts on Sunday at Swayze Field. It was the first series win for UK in Oxford since 2013 and a year to the day of the club’s last road series win against a ranked opponent, which came at Georgia.

Collett, who now leads the team with nine home runs and 36 runs batted in, delivered a solo home run in the opening game to give the Cats a lead they would never relinquish, driving a pitch out to centerfield. In the nightcap, he broke up a scoreless contest with a two-out, three-run shot to right-centerfield on an 0-2 count.

For the week, the Terre Haute, Indiana native hit .462 and logged a pair of multi-hit games as part of a stretch where he has recorded a hit in seven of his last eight games.

A preseason first-team All-SEC selection by the league’s coaches, Collett has been a serious power threat in the Cats’ lineup the past two seasons. He has 20 career home runs and earned National Player of the Week honors last season after homering in four consecutive games and is well known for the blast he hit into the second deck of Minute Maid Park, the home of the World Series champion Houston Astros, last season.

 

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