Courtesy of UMB Media Relations

University of Massachusetts Boston baseball player Fernando Pena (Peabody, MA) has been named Little East Conference Rookie of the Week for the week of April 18-24.

The freshman batted .400 (4-10), hitting safely in all three games that he played in the week, while scoring three times, walking twice, stealing a base and knocking in a run from the nine spot in the batting order. He also maintained a .500 on-base percentage. The center fielder was 2-4 with an RBI, a run scored and a stolen base in the Beacons’ 6-2 victory over University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on April 22. The Peabody High School product went 1-3 with a run scored and a walk against both University of Southern Maine and Suffolk University as well.

Pena has played in 25 of 26 games for UMass Boston, having started all of them. In 92 plate appearances, the first-year player has yet to ground into a double play and is hitting .256 (21-82) on the season. His total of three stolen bases is tied for the third-highest total on the squad. He has scored 15 times, while knocking in eight runs to go with a double and a triple on the year. Pena is currently riding a three-game hitting streak and has two other streaks of hitting safely in at least three games this year, including a four-game streak from March 13-16, where he batted .500 (8-16). The speedy outfielder leads UMB with a pair of bunts for hits and his four multiple-hit performances rank him seventh on the team.

The Beacons are currently 13-16 on the season, including a 3-5 mark in LEC play. They will be in action again on Wednesday, May 4 when they travel to Portland, ME, to take on University of Southern Maine at 3:00 p.m.