McCook alum swinging with NCAA's best

Thursday, April 25, 2019
McCook Community College former walk-on Jake Sanford has earned a spot on the Golden Spikes Award watch list which is presented to NCAA Division I’s best college player every season. Sanford now plays for Western Kentucky University.
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BOWLNG GREEN, Ky. — Jake Sanford, a 2018 graduate of McCook Community College has been garnering some national awards this spring for his hitting prowess at NCAA Division I Western Kentucky.

Sanford’s 18 home runs this season are tied for third best among all Division I hitters according to the NCAA statistics updated today. He is the nation’s second best slugger with an. 868 mark and his 132 total bases are second best -- six behind the leader.

He’s batting .423 -- six best in the nation and is tied for fifth in RBIs with 55 in 39 games.

“I talked to Jake as the a few times at the beginning of the year, before he got real hot, but he was excited for the year, and obviously we are excited for him and the success he is having there,’ McCook Community College Coach Jon Olsen said.

The right fielder went 4-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored Tuesday against the Southeastern Conference’s Kentucky Wildcats, pushing his slash line to a season-high .423/.500/.885.

It was his fourth, four-hit game of the year and 14th multi-run game of the season.

On Saturday, the Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, native hit a pair of three-run homers on the day — one in Game 1 to tie Conference USA foe Florida Atlantic at 4-4 in the fifth, then a second in Game 2 to give the Hilltoppers a 6-0 lead in the second frame — to push his season total to 18 dingers and 55 runs batted in.

At the start of the month, the junior right fielder was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association National Hitter of the Week for going 12-for-20 with five home runs and 15 RBIs.

He’s also won a couple Conference USA weekly hitting awards.

The Hilltoppers are 9-8-1 in Conference USA play and 18-20-1 overall entering a weekend series at Texas-San Antonio.

On Tuesday, WKU will visit No. 7 Louisville.

“I have had multiple pro scouts contact me trying to gather as much information on Jake as they can for the upcoming draft, I’m sure it will work out for him, he has all the tools on and off the field to make it happen,” Olsen said.

Sanford paid his own way to MCC hoping to make the team as a walk-on in the fall of 2016, earned a scholarship for his second semester and as a freshman hit .358 with 13 doubles, 5 triples, 11 home runs nd 39 RBIs.

At the end of his sophomore year at MCC, Sanford batted .374, a .450 on-base average and slugged .700, the all-time best for any MCC hitter. His 12 home runs tied for the Region IX lead and he drove in 55 runs in 54 games – the fourth most RBIs in the region.

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