The West Coast League Player of the Week and Pitcher of the Week, as announced by league president Brian Sloan, are West Virginia redshirt freshman catcher Chase Illig of the Bellingham Bells and UC Santa Barbara freshman pitcher Chris Lincoln of the Walla Walla Sweets for the week of July 17-23.

Illig’s week got started off with a bang by winning the West Coast League All-Star Game Home Run Derby at Yakima County Stadium on July 18. He then proceeded to blast 5 home runs, while going 9-for-19 at the plate and collecting 14 RBIs.

For the summer, Illig is hitting .354 and is tied for the league lead in homers with 11 and is third in the WCL with 40 RBI.

Last spring, the sophomore-to-be hit .242 with 3 home runs and 18 RBIs over 91 at bats and 24 starts in the Big 12 for the Mountaineers.

Lincoln tossed 6 2/3 electric innings vs. Corvallis at Borleske Stadium on July 19th to earn the win in the Sweets 3-0 victory. The right-hander, who was drafted in the 13th round of the 2016 MLB draft by Toronto, only allowed two hits and struck out 12. He is 1-1 with a 4.06 ERA this season for Walla Walla, and has struck out 27 over 24.1 innings pitched.

At UC Santa Barbara, Lincoln made 18 appearances and 3 starts as a frosh, striking out 25 over 28 innings pitched and going 1-3 with one save while posting a 4.82 ERA.