Katherine Brunner Named Mountain West Freshman of the Week

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Following a week in which she led the Lobos at the plate, Katherine Brunner has been selected as the Mountain West Freshman of the Week, as announced by the conference on Monday.

Brunner led the Lobos with a .636 batting average as well as a .615 on-base percentage, behind a team-high seven hits and driving in a team-best five RBI. In addition, Brunner also tied for the team high in slugging percentage at 1.000.

The Katy, Texas native recorded a hit in all four games, including three games with two hits, and contributed three RBI in Sunday’s win against Utah State, the most for a Lobo in a game on the week. Starting as the designated player in all four games, the freshman was 2-2 when leading off an inning, 4-7 in successfully advancing runners and 2-3 with runners on third and less than two outs.

Among her highlights on the week, she accounted for the first three UNM runs in Sunday’s game, hitting a single to center field that scored two runs in the bottom of the first to give the Lobos the 2-1 lead, and in the bottom of the third, singled to center to plate a run that tied the game at three. In Saturday’s game, Brunner hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning to bring in UNM’s first run, with the Lobos tying the game on the next at-bat in the eventual 3-2 win.

She started the Utah State series going 2-2 with a double and a home run and drew a walk. Her double led off the fourth inning, which turned into a five-run inning that gave the Lobos the 8-6 lead, and in the next inning, hit a solo home run for the final run of the 9-6 win.

In the series sweep over Utah State, Brunner finished with five hits, five RBI, a .625 batting average, 1.125 slugging percentage and .600 on-base percentage.

Brunner is the second Lobo freshman to win the MW Freshman of the Week award this season, joining pitcher McKenna Guest who was selected on March 25.