Senior Casey Fletcher was named Big Ten Co-Player of the Week, announced the conference office Monday. Fletcher hit a team-high .500 (8-of-16) with five walks during Illinois' perfect 4-0 week that extended its school record and longest active winning streak in the country to 17.
Fletcher, who shared the honor with Iowa's Jimmy Frankos, brought home the game-winning RBI single in the 15th inning on Saturday at Penn State. He had three multi-hit games and posted a 1.000 fielding percentage in right field. The Oakwood, Illinois, native scored five runs and had three RBI on the week in which Illinois topped Eastern Illinois and swept Penn State.
Fletcher is the second Illini to earn the conference's weekly honor this season, joining junior Jason Goldstein (April 7). It is the second time he has collected the laurel, also doing so last season on May 6 when he was voted National and Big Ten Player of the Week.
Illinois is ranked No. 6 in the Perfect Game Top 25, marking the highest ranking in program history. It is the third straight week the Illini are ranked in the Top 10.
UI also is ranked No. 7 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and No. 8 by D1Baseball.com, Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball.
Illinois is off to its best start in school history with a 36-6-1 record. The previous best UI mark after 43 games was 33-10 in 1989 under Augie Garrido.
The Illini sit in first place atop the Big Ten standings at 13-1.
No. 6 Illinois will play its final midweek game on Tuesday (April 28) at Southern Illinois at 6 p.m. The Illini are a perfect 15-0 in April.
