UHV's Jones, Gutierrez sweep RRAC weekly honors

WACO – The sweeps keep coming for No. 10-ranked UHV baseball.

On Monday, the Red River Athletic Conference announced the Jaguars' Jonathan Jones and Rafael Gutierrez as its Pitcher and Player of the Week, respectively. It's the second time this season each player has been recognized with weekly honors, and the first time this year UHV has swept the awards. In total, the Jaguars have been recognized eight times in the conference's weekly awards.

The duo helped deliver a perfect 4-0 week for UHV against NCAA Division I Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and RRAC foe Huston-Tillotson.

"Love to see them get the recognition for their performances this past week," said head coach Jonathan Stavinoha. "They helped to get us back on track and set the tone for the squad. Excited for them to carry this into the last stretch of the season."

Gutierrez came up in the clutch on multiple occasions last week, blasting three home runs in four games.

His first home run of the week was a three-run game-tying home run in the eighth against the Islanders on Tuesday, and lifted UHV (29-7, 17-4) to a 6-5 win and first-ever series sweep of A&M-Corpus Christi. He also provided a go-ahead home run in the sixth inning of Saturday's 9-7 win over the Rams of Huston Tillotson.

The Jacksonville, Florida, native hit .357 with a 1.000 slugging percentage and six RBIs last week. This season, Gutierrez is hitting .295 with 28 RBIs and five home runs.

"I'm truly honored to be recognized as Player of the Week again," Gutierrez said. "But most importantly it's a reflection of the support from my teammates and coaches. I'm just grateful to be part of this team and to have the chance to contribute."

Jones delivered another gem on Saturday to power the Jaguars to a 10-0 run-rule win over the Rams in Game 2 of the series.

The Manvel native struck out 11 batters over eight innings to earn his third shutout of the season and his fourth complete game this year. His 11 strikeouts tied his season high, which he set on March 1 in a 4-0 win over Xavier (La.).

Jones worked efficiently in Game 2, retiring the first 12 batters in order and issuing no walks to improve to 7-1 this season. His 1.71 ERA leads the RRAC and his 81 strikeouts rank third in the NAIA.

"It's a blessing to win the award again," Jones said. "When you work so hard for something and stay persistent, things like this happen. For us to bounce back the way we did is a step in the right direction. We went to practice with a chip on our shoulder and played like it. So, we want to keep that momentum and keep playing JagBall."

The Jaguars head to Houston to face Division III St. Thomas at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Houston Christian University's Husky Field.