Kerns Earns RRAC Player of the Week Honors

WACO, Texas – Austin Kerns of Texas A&M University-Texarkana received the RRAC Baseball Player of the Week award for April 21-27, while Julian Garcia of the University of Houston-Victoria (Texas) garnered the RRAC Pitcher of the Week honor for the same dates. This is the 14th and final set of weekly winners for the 2025 RRAC baseball season.

Kerns homered twice and drove in nine runs as the Eagles swept a three-game series against University of the Southwest (N.M.) and moved up to the No. 3 seed in the RRAC postseason tournament. The freshman utility player from Diana, Texas, went 5-for-10 at the plate in the series, capping it with two doubles, a home run and six RBIs in a 13-3 victory on Sunday. Kerns also collected two RBIs in the middle game as TAMUT won, 7-5. He is second in the RRAC in home runs (13) and fifth in RBIs (51) this season. The Eagles finished the regular season at 20-10 in conference play and 34-16 overall.

Garcia struck out 10 hitters in a 10-0 win over LSU Alexandria on Saturday. The senior righthander from Houston allowed only two hits and a walk over seven innings or work while tying his season-high for strikeouts. Garcia boasts a 2.41 ERA, which is fourth-best in the RRAC this season. UHV closed out the regular season with a 22-8 RRAC mark and 37-14 record overall on the season. The Jaguars set a new program record for single-season wins.

Additional RRAC player of the week nominees: Blaise Foote (LSU Alexandria), Cristian Garcia (Houston-Victoria), Jack Kalisky (Our Lady of the Lake), Nick Lorio (Louisiana Christian), Anthony Swenda (LSU Shreveport).

Additional RRAC pitcher of the week nominees: Jacob Bareswill (Louisiana Christian), Camden Gamble (A&M-Texarkana), Donovan Gamez (Our Lady of the Lake), Charlie Guidry (LSU Alexandria), Cobe Reeves (LSU Shreveport).  

Previous 2025 RRAC baseball weekly selections: