CANTON, Ga. – Spring and Uhls capture the final Southern Athletic Association Baseball Athlete of the Week honors.
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Athletes of the Week:
Pitcher:
Parker Spring | Oglethorpe | SR | Marietta, GA - Oglethorpe senior Parker Spring struck out six in three scoreless innings of relief Friday night to help the Stormy Petrels take the opener of the weekend series against Sewanee. He allowed just three hits and one walk, keeping the Tigers off the board in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings until Oglethorpe finally broke through with a walk-off win in the bottom of the 11th.
Athlete:
Riley Uhls | Berry | SR | Lexington, KY - A senior from Lexington, KY Uhls helped lead the Vikings to a three game upset sweep of #21 Rhodes College as they secured the third seed in the SAA Tournament. Uhls went 7-for-12 (.583 avg) at the plate with 4 RBIs and two runs scored. In the first game he went 3-for-5 at the dish with 2 RBIs as the Vikings won 5-3. Then in game two he went 1-for-3 with an RBI as the Vikings won a close one 3-2. His RBI in the third inning got the offense going. Then in the final game he went 3-for-4 with the go ahead home run as the Vikings won 6-5. Uhls leads the SAA in Hits (69), Batting Average (.451) and RBIs (59).
Notable Performances
Pitcher
- Cam Welsh | Berry | JR | Spring Garden, AL - A Junior from Spring Garden, AL Welsh helped lead the Vikings to an upset series sweep of No. 21 Rhodes as he picked up the first win of the series pitching 6 innings allowing just one hit while striking out three as the Vikings won 5-3.
- Sam Thomas | Millsaps | SR | Ridgeland, MS - Millsaps baseball senior right-handed pitcher Sam Thomas was terrific in relief, helping the Majors claim the series over Southwestern on Senior Day. He earned the win in a 12-11 thriller in 3.0 innings of relief, striking out eight batters. He only surrendered one earned run, one walk, and four hits after entering in the seventh inning with no outs and the bases loaded.
- Zane Heiliger | Southwestern | FR | Katy, TX - Heiliger earned the win against Millsaps after another deep performance, allowing one run through 7 innings and running out of gas in the eighth as he was responsible for 4 earned. The freshman has logged 2 games this season now of 7 innings pitched.
Athlete
- Ben Prather | Centre | SR | Lexington, KY - Ben Prather continued to swing a hot bat for the Colonels in the final week of the season, getting on base 16 of 22 times across four games. Prather went 7-13 at the plate for a .538 average, drove in six runs, scored five times, stole three bases and walked three times. In the opening game of Centre’s series against Trinity, Prather went 4-4 at the plate. His final hit of the game tied the score and was his 214th career hit, setting a new Centre baseball program record. Later in that game, Prather came up with the bases loaded and was hit by a pitch – one of six times during the week – to drive in the winning run in a dramatic 8-7 victory.
- Wesley Grant | Millsaps | JR | Savannah, TX - Millsaps baseball junior center fielder Wesley Grant had another strong week for the Majors, helping the team earn a series win over Southwestern. He finished with a .500 on-base percentage and an .833 slugging percentage, batting 5-for-12. He scored six runs, stole three bases, walked twice, tripled, and tallied three doubles.
- Nick Morgan | Oglethorpe | SO | Cumming, GA - After posting a four-hit game in a midweek nonconference matchup against Emory, Oglethorpe sophomore Nick Morgan finished the week with six more hits in a weekend series win over Sewanee. This included a walk-off single with two out and two strikes in the bottom of the 11th to help the Stormy Petrels take the opener.
- Will Baker | Trinity | SO | Missouri City, TX - Led by Baker, the Trinity University baseball team was able to clinch the Southern Athletic Association Regular Season Championship by going 1-2 at Centre College (KY) this weekend. Baker batted a team-best .462 (6-for-13) with three runs scored and eight RBI. He had a double and a home run among his six hits, while also drawing three walks to boost his on-base percentage to .563 for the weekend. Trinity won the final game of the series to clinch the regular season title, led by Baker going 3-for-5 with four RBI in the 14-8 victory.
2026 Baseball Report Archive (AOW Pitcher/Athlete)
Week One - Feb. 9 (Dylon Lozano/Wesley Grant)
Week Two - Feb. 16 (Nolan Asher/Aidan Petrocco)
Week Three - Feb. 23 (Jake Beck/Kaleb Woodward)
Week Four - March 2 (Nolan Asher/EJ Ousley)
Week Five - March 9 (Austin Graber/Zach Fortman)
Week Six - March 16 (Andrew Zimmerman/Owen Stevenson)
Week Seven - March 23 (Ben Daniel/Khalfani Coney)
Week Eight - March 30 (Cam Welsh/Tanaka Mukono)
Week Nine - April 6 (Tyler Hower/Thomas Moss)
Week Ten - April 13 (Isaac Rone/Charlie Teel)
Week Eleven - April 20 (Tyler Hower/Evan Smallwood)
Week Twelve - Apr 27 (Ed Anglin/Brad Larson)
For more information on all things SAA, visit the websites of any of the participating schools, or go to the SAA's home on the internet at www.saa-sports.com. Be sure to stay up to date on all ofyour Southern Athletic Association news by following @SAA_Sports on Twitter (X) and @SAA_Sports on Instagram.