Gee was one of eight players from around the country recognized in conjunction with the release of CBN's weekly Top 30 poll. He was a runner-up to Murray State's Wes Cunningham for Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week honors.
Gee went deep in four of his 13 at-bats in the three-game series at JSU, finishing the weekend 6-for-13 with nine RBIs (six coming with two outs) and five runs scored. He connected for a pair of solo homers in the series opener and hit a three-run shot in the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader. In an EIU victory Sunday, he gave the Panthers an early lead with a two-run homer in the first inning en route to a 3-for-4, four-RBI performance.
Gee's multi-homer effort in game one was his first as a Panther. He went deep in both ends of a doubleheader for the second time this season, also accomplishing the feat in the March 13 EIU sweep at South Florida. His four RBIs Sunday matched his career high.
Gee has now homered in three consecutive games for the second time in his collegiate career. As a sophomore in 2008, he hit a solo shot in OVC Tournament championship-clinching victory against Southeast Missouri State and then also went deep in both games of the NCAA Regional at Lincoln, Neb.
Gee and the Panthers return to action Wednesday for a 6 p.m. midweek game at Illinois State.
Louisville Slugger National Players of the Week for May 10
Kyle Blair, Pitcher, San Diego
Gauntlett Eldemire, Outfielder, Ohio
Sean Allaire, Shortstop, Central Connecticut State
Mike Goemans, Pitcher, Canisius
Brady Rodgers, Pitcher, Arizona State
Grant Buckner, Third Baseman, West Virginia
Dusty Robinson, Outfielder, Fresno State
Alex Gee, First Baseman/DH, Eastern Illinois
Recapping Last Week
-- Eastern Illinois out hit (40-28) and outscored (26-23) Jacksonville State but still lost two-of-three during its final OVC weekend road trip. The Panthers led 10-5 entering the bottom of the seventh inning of game one only to see JSU score six times in the frame to surge ahead. Eastern tied the game in the top of the ninth on a run-scoring single from
Cam Strang but lost in walk-off fashion in the bottom half of the frame. It was EIU's sixth loss of the season in walk-off fashion and the Panthers also fell to 2-13 in one-run games. Eastern had a season-high 21 hits in the game one loss
-- The Panthers came back Sunday and won the series finale 10-3 behind a six-run third inning, EIU's second biggest scoring output in an inning this season.
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Alex Gee went deep four times in the JSU series and recorded six of his nine RBIs with two outs in an inning. He hit a pair of solo shots in game one of Saturday's doubleheader and also connected for a three-run blast in the nightcap. Sunday in an EIU win, he was 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and a pair of run-scoring singles.
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Richie Derbak and
Cam Strang both had seven hits in the JSU series. Strang saw his career best 16-game hitting streak, the longest of the season by a Panther, end in the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader.
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Gerik Wallsten was 5-for-13 with five RBIs in the JSU series. He had three hits and three RBIs in the series opener and two hits and two RBIs in the finale.
Daniel Rowe was 5-for-6 with two walks and three runs scored in Saturday's doubleheader but did not play Sunday.
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Josh Mueller struck out 10 over 5 2/3 innings of the series opener. It was his third collegiate 10-K effort and second this season. He recorded his 200th career strikeout in the process.
Mike Recchia bounced back after suffering the loss in relief in game one to win the finale with seven innings of three run ball. He matched his season high with nine strikeouts. After giving up three runs in the first inning, Recchia allowed only five JSU hitters to reach base the rest of his outing.
-- The Panthers are slated to play six of their final eight regular-season games at home. Eastern did not have any midweek games last week due to final exams on campus.
