Sophomore Luis Duran (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Centro de Estudio Espaillat) of the Marshalltown Community College baseball team connected on four home runs last week and has been named the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) Division I Player of the Week for his efforts.
The weekly honor is the second of the year for Duran, who was named the conference's first player of the week in 2017 on Feb. 7.
Duran has been on a tear in the month of April, batting .500 at the plate, including a .609 mark the past week. In six games last week, the sophomore collected 14 hits while driving in 12 runs and scoring eight more. Duran is currently riding an eight-game hitting streak.
Duran opened the week with a 4-6 performance at the plate, driving in three runs in a 20-11 loss to Southeastern Community College. In a 16-11 win over Ellsworth Community College on Thursday, Duran delivered his first home run of the week, a three-run shot.
In the Tigers' four-game weekend ICCAC series at Shawn Williams Field with Southwestern Community College, Duran tallied nine hits, including a pair of three-hit games. Duran sent three pitches out of the park on Sunday, with two home runs coming in game one with the Spartans.
With 58 hits on the year, Duran moved into sole possession of fourth place on the all-time hits list at MCC with 124, passing former teammates Bennett Lopez and Logan Holtz.
With his strong month of April, Duran has upped his batting average to .417 and his slugging percentage to .676. Both marks currently rank third in the ICCAC. The sophomore leads the league with nine home runs and 50 RBI.
The Tigers are in action at home with Iowa Central Community College on Tuesday afternoon.
