Hoptown Hopper Blake Jackson is the second player in Ohio Valley League history to win the league’s triple crown during the regular season.
Jackson, from Middle Georgia State University, batted .364 during the season with 15 homers and 51 runs batted in.
It marks the second time in three years that a Hopper player won the league’s triple crown. Andrew Gross batted .442 with 22 homers and 77 RBIs in 2016 – all three of which are still OVL records.
Jackson also led the league with 51 hits. He joins Gross and Ernie de la Trinidad (2015) as Hoppers who led the OVL in hits. De la Trinidad is batting .305 with eight homers for the Arizona Diamondbacks Class A affiliate in Kane County.
Hoppers who have led the OVL in home runs are Philip Menou (2012), Ben Rodriguez (2014), Gross (2016), and Jackson. Rodriguez has seven home runs in 49 games for the Class A Cedar Rapids Kernels – a Minnesota Twins affiliate.
A Hopper has led the OVL in RBIs each of the last three years. In addition to Gross and Jackson, Reese Alexiades had 44 to claim the league lead last year.
A Hoptown player has led the OVL in at least one offensive category each year except for 2013.
