Troy senior pitcher Austin Crook was named the Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week after his performance against Louisiana Lafayette on Saturday.

Crook is the seventh Trojan to win the National Player of the Week Award and the first since Grant Bennett won it in 2015.

Crook struck out 14 batters in Troy’s 7-5 win over the No. 15 Cajuns in last weekends three game tilt.

Crook lasted 8.2 innings, which was good enough for the longest outing of his career.

“I don’t know if (Crook) has pitched a better game in his life,” Troy head coach Mark Smartt said. “I hate he couldn’t finish, but he was sensational today (Saturday). As a team, we took advantage of anything they gave us.” 

After allowing two runs in the opening of play, Crook scattered four runs the rest of the way, only two of which were earned.

The 14 strikeouts for Crook surpassed his previous career-high number by nine. He struck out five against Hofstra on March 11. The 14 strikeouts is the most by a Troy pitcher since Bennett struck out 14 against Georgia Southern in 2015.

“I felt good, settled down and the offense got us some runs and got us ahead,” Crook said.

Crook improved his record on the season to 4-0 on the season.

The Trojans will be back in action on Friday when they travel to take on UT-Arlington beginning at 6:30 p.m.