WINONA, Minn. — Batting from the No. 9 spot in the batting order, Tyler Kruse (Minneapolis, Minn.) has a habit of sneaking up on teams this season.

After the week the Saint Mary's University outfielder just had, there won't be any more sneaking around — “Kruse” will be a household name around the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Kruse, who collected his fifth straight two-hit performance in Saturday's Game 2 victory over Bethel — a win that gave Saint Mary's University baseball coach Nick Winecke his first conference win of the season— hit a whopping .625 and boasted an .812 slugging percentage in earning MIAC Player of the Week honors, it was announced Monday.

Kruse, who did not play in SMU's nonconference opener against Luther last Monday, put together a 2-for-3 effort in Game 2 vs. the Norse — including his team-leading third triple of the season — then followed that up with 2-for-3 and 2-for-4 showings vs. Saint John's last Wednesday, while adding back-to-back 2-for-3 performances against Bethel Saturday. He also drove in three runs, compiled a .647 on-base percentage and made 11 putouts from in center field.

For the season, Kruse has put together career numbers, including career-highs in batting average (.345), runs (12), hits (25), doubles (5), triples (3), home runs (1), RBIs (11), slugging percentage (.542), on-base percentage (.447) and walks (11).