Kentucky baseball’s Riley Mahan named co-SEC player of the week

Kentucky baseball’s Riley Mahan was named the Southeastern Conference’s co-player of the week. He shared the honor with Auburn’s Josh Anthony.

The junior infielder was the key cog in UK’s 3-1 week against No. 2 Louisville and No. 8 LSU, batting .688 (11-for-16) and reaching base in 14 of his 19 plate appearances. The Cincinnati, Ohio native had a .737 on-base percentage and 1.000 slugging percentage for the week with four runs scored, six RBI, two doubles, a home run, a hit by pitch and a pair of intentional walks.

It was Mahan’s second SEC player of the week honor this season. He also earned the award for the week of March 6.

In the series win over LSU, Mahan was 9-of-12, including the opener when he ripped a career-high five hits (5-for-5) with two doubles, a run and three RBI. He capped his big weekend with a home run on Sunday and a highlight reel double play turn at second base.

Mahan is batting .335 on the season in 41 games with 35 runs scored, 17 doubles, two triples, seven homers, 41 RBI and six steals. He ranks among the SEC leaders in doubles (2nd), total bases (4th), slugging percentage (4th), RBI (6th) and hits (10th).

In addition to Mahan’s two SEC awards, Kentucky pitchers Sean Hjelle and Logan Salow took home SEC pitcher of the week awards in back-to-back weeks in March.

This story was originally published April 24, 2017 at 1:27 PM with the headline "Kentucky baseball’s Riley Mahan named co-SEC player of the week."