Troy Squires Nabs Two National Player of the Week Awards

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky senior catcher/first baseman Troy Squires was named National Player of the Week by two media outlets after a career week that culminated in a series win over No. 3 Texas Tech. Both Perfect Game/Rawlings and Collegiate Baseball tabbed him as the top performer in the country last week.
 
He was previously named Southeastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday, the first time he has earned that honor.
 
Squires hit .571 with six runs scored, 11 RBI, five doubles and two home runs with a 1.095 slugging percentage for the week. He set a career-high for hits (four) and RBI (four) in a win over Eastern Kentucky and then tied both of those marks in Saturday’s comeback win over the Red Raiders where he went 4-for-5 with a three-run home run that gave the Cats a 5-4 lead.
 
The 5-foot-11, 200-pounder also was tremendous defensively. On Friday night he threw out a Texas Tech runner attempting to steal third in a tie game with two on and only out to short-circuit a Tech rally as the Cats rallied for a 10-7 victory in the series opener.
 
The Elizabethtown, Ky. native has had a sensational start to the season, hitting .373 with 22 RBI and 10 extra-base hits with more walks (10) than strikeouts (nine) and eight hit by pitch. The 22 runs Squires has driven in through the first 17 games of the season already has nearly eclipsed his 2017 season total of 26.
 
It has not just been about raw numbers for senior. His two-run, two-out, two-strike single in the bottom of the ninth tied the game and set up a walk-off win over Western Kentucky on Feb. 27. He also was inducted into UK’s prestigious Frank A. Ham Society of Character for student-athletes.