Wheaton, Ill. - Wheaton junior Joe Klein has been named the CCIW Baseball "Hitter of the Week", as announced by the conference office on Tuesday afternoon. The selection marks the first time in his career that Klein has won the conference's "Hitter of the Week" award. Klein's award marks the first time a Wheaton player has been recognized as the CCIW "Hitter of the Week" since Sam Reichert picked up the honor on March 3, 2020.

Klein hit .545 (6-for-11) in the reporting period for the award (April 5-11), helping lead the Thunder to a pair of CCIW road wins. He belted two home runs, added a double, drove in eight runs and scored six times. Klein belted a 1.182 slugging percentage during the stretch and had a .615 on-base percentage.

Klein was 3-for-3, with a walk yesterday in Wheaton's 15-4 win at Illinois Wesleyan as he hit a pair of home runs, had six RBI, and scored four times. Klein hit a solo home run in the win at IWU in the top of the second to give Wheaton a 1-0 lead. He followed in the top of the third, with a grand slam to increase the Wheaton lead to 5-0. In the top of the fourth inning he added a RBI-single to extend the guests' lead to 6-0, as he drove in Wheaton's first six runs in the 15-4 win against the Titans. Earlier in the week, Klein hit a RBI-double last Tuesday in a 5-4 Thunder win at Millikin and he also scored a run and drew a walk in the victory against the Big Blue. He was 2-for-4 on Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader at North Central, with a run and a RBI.

Klein is second among Wheaton's players with a .340 (17-for-50) batting average this season. He has scored 12 runs, with 13 RBI and drawn seven walks. Klein has five doubles, two home runs and one triple.