Photo, left: Steven Poche (SE Louisiana) pitches for the Albany Dutchmen against the Amsterdam Mohawks on June 12 at Bob Bellizzi Field.

The Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League is pleased to announce its’ weekly award winners for the fourth week of the 2011 season. The awards are based on games played between July 4 and July 10.

Albany’s Steven Poche (SE Louisiana) and Newark’s Dominick Ruscitti (Kutztown) have each been selected as the PGCBL Pitcher of the Week. The split decision is the second in the four weeks that the award has been handed out. Teammates Nick Gonzalez (South Florida) and Neil Fryer (Siena) split the award in Week One. Amsterdam backstop Luke Maile (Kentucky) has been chosen PGCBL Player of the Week.

Steven Poche pitched a complete game  four-hit shutout against the Elmira Pioneers on Wed., July 6, at Dunn Field. The Pioneers entered the game with a .303 team batting average. Poche scattered four hits, walked none and struck out seven in a rain-shortened contest that was called after seven innings. He allowed only two Elmira runners to advance safely to second base and faced three batters over the minimum. Through four starts, Poche has a 2.95 earned run average and 19 strikeouts in 21.1 innings pitched.

Dominick Ruscitti hurled a complete game four-hitter in a 2-1 home victory over nationally-ranked Glens Falls on Fri., July 8. Ruscitti held the Golden Eagles to four singles, walked one and struck out six. He retired 18 of the final 20 batters he faced and did not allow a hit after the third inning. Between the third and eighth frames, the Newark starter set down 14 Golden Eagles in a row. The Kutztown University rising senior leads the PGCBL with a 1.11 earned run average over five appearances. Ruscitti has given up only four earned runs in 32.1 innings and he is 3-0.

Luke Maile was part of Amsterdam’s New York Collegiate Baseball League championship squad last summer. The University of Kentucky catcher rejoined the Mohawks nine days ago and sparked the Tribe’s offense as part of a 5-2 week. Maile batted .522 (12-for-23) over seven games with two home runs and nine RBI. He scored seven runs, drew seven walks, cracked five doubles and amassed a 1.000 slugging percentage. Maile had four multi-hit and three multi-RBI games. He reached base safely in all seven contests. The second-year Mohawk committed just one error in 55 defensive chances, picked off two runners and threw out another attempting to steal.

The Crestview Hills, Ky., native set off his own Fourth of July fireworks with a 4-for-5 performance at Cooperstown. Maile drove in three runs, scored three runs, belted two doubles and slugged a solo home run. He broke a 4-4 tie in the 10th inning with a two out, two-run double. Three nights later, Maile struck a key RBI single and halted Watertown rallies in consecutive innings by picking runners off of second base. In a joust for first place in the PGCBL East with Glens Falls on Saturday, he sparked a five-run rally with a lead-off single and a stolen base and then later clubbed a three-run home run. Through eight games, Maile is batting .500. The UK backstop hit .318 for the Mohawks last summer and drove in 10 runs.