Special to the Item

PEARL, MS — The Mississippi Braves and Farm Bureau are excited to announce that infielder Drew Lugbauer and starting pitcher Freddy Tarnok has been named Farm Bureau Pitcher and Player of the Week.

Lugbauer, 24, wins for the second-straight week, after leading batting .353 (6-for-17), with a double, three home runs, five RBI, five runs, .450 OBP, and 1.391 OPS. The Pleasant Valley, NY native, homered in back-to-back games on Tuesday and Wednesday, then again in game two of Saturday’s doubleheader in Pensacola. He has homered in four of his last six games and five of his last eight, hitting 12 on the season.

Lugbauer leads the Double-A South this season in OPS (.890), ranks 3rd in slugging (.513), and 4th in on-base percentage (.377), and T-9th in homers (12). As a team last week, the M-Braves hit 20 home runs over six games, pushing the season total to 100, a new club record in a season, over just 78 games.

The Atlanta Braves selected Lugbauer in the 11th round of the 2017 draft out of the University of Michigan.

Tarnok, 21, earned his first Double-A win in Mississippi’s 5-1 win over Pensacola last Thursday night at Blue Wahoos Stadium. The #10 overall prospect for the Braves struck out 12, walked two and gave up just one run on three hits over 5.0 innings in his second start.

The 12 strikeouts were a season-high for an M-Braves pitcher and the first 12 strikeout game since Ian Anderson fanned 14 on June 28, 2019.

In his first two Double-A starts, the Brandon, FL native has 21 strikeouts against just three walks and a 2.61 ERA.

In nine games, seven starts this season between Rome and Mississippi, Tarnok is 4-2 with a 4.19 ERA, 69 strikeouts, 16 walks, over 38.2 innings pitched. Tarnok was promoted to Mississippi on July 20.

The Atlanta Braves drafted Tarnok in the third round of the 2017 draft out of Riverview High School in Brandon, FL.

After going 4-2 in Pensacola, the Braves (44-34) return to action on Tuesday night, following Monday’s off day, and continue the road trip with a six-game series at Birmingham. The first pitch on Tuesday night is at 7:05 pm, with coverage on 103.9 WYAB, mississippibraves.com, and MiLB.TV.

The M-Braves return to Trustmark Park for a six-game homestand against the Biloxi Shuckers, August 10-15, with Clunker Car Night, Cristian Pache bobblehead giveaway Fireworks highlighting the promotional schedule.