WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball redshirt senior first baseman Tyce Armstrong has picked up a pair of national honors for his performance on Opening Weekend, as announced by various publications on Tuesday.
Armstrong was tabbed the National Player of the Week by Perfect Game and was selected as the first baseman on Baseball America’s National Team of the Week. The awards come one day after Armstrong garnered Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors.
Armstrong became the second player in NCAA history to hit three grand slams in a single game, doing so in BU’s Opening Day, 15-2, run-rule victory Friday night over New Mexico State in Waco. The native of Magnolia, Texas, tied BU’s program record with three home runs and his 12 RBIs topped Shea Langeliers’ 11 from June 1, 2019, vs. Omaha as the new program standard.
No player in Major League Baseball history has ever hit three grand slams in one game, and only once has a single team accomplished the feat in the New York Yankees on August 25, 2011, against the Oakland Athletics. Armstrong joined Louisville’s Jim LaFountain as the only players in NCAA history to do so, as LaFountain hit four home runs, including two grand slams in the same inning, and drove in 14 runs against Western Kentucky on March 24, 1976.
For the weekend, Armstrong hit .300 and drove in a whopping 14 runs after coming to the plate twice more with the bases loaded on Saturday and Sunday. He picked up an RBI sacrifice fly and was hit by a pitch to score a run in those subsequent plate appearances. Armstrong’s 14 RBIs are the most in college baseball after the Opening Weekend.
