Penn State Altoona baseball's freshman third baseman Jake Hillard was recognized on a national level for his stellar performance with the bat last week, as the slugger was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division III Rookie of the Week on Wednesday afternoon.

Hillard, the reigning AMCC Player of the Week, propelled Penn State Altoona to doubleheader sweeps of conference opponents Mount Aloysius College and Hilbert College last week.

In last Tuesday's doubleheader versus Mount Aloysius, Hillard combined to hit 3-for-7 with four runs batted in, two runs scored, one home run, and one triple. The freshman followed that up by going 6-for-9 with 11 RBI, five runs scored, three home runs, and two doubles in the Lions' games against Hilbert on Saturday.

On the week, Hillard batted .563 (9-for-16) with 15 RBI, seven runs scored, four home runs, two doubles, and a triple. He finished the week with a .529 on-base percentage, a 1.563 slugging percentage, and 25 total bases.

In the AMCC this season, Hillard currently ranks second among all players in total bases (68), third in slugging percentage (.791), home runs (7), and doubles (11), and seventh in runs scored (25), hits (34), and RBI (27).