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DALLAS - The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released the Pro-Line Athletic National Player of the Week awards for the period ending April 29, today. UCF senior third baseman Matt Horwath was named National Hitter of the Week, while Tennessee sophomore lefthander James Adkins was named National Pitcher of the Week. The NCBWA Board reviews candidates from each Division I conferences each week and names winners each Tuesday throughout the season.
Horwath, the Knights leadoff hitter, had one of the best offensive weeks in UCF history. In four games, he went 11-for-16 for a .688 average, scored eight runs, drove in three, stole a base and had four doubles, a home run and his first two triples of his career. The senior scored twice and had at least two hits in all four games to help the Knights go 4-0 on the week, including a three-game sweep of Tulane, its first-ever sweep of a C-USA series. In Friday night's series opener against Tulane he hit for UCF's first-ever cycle. Horwath was hit by a pitch in the first, singled in the third, tripled in the fourth and homered to lead-off the seventh. He came to the plate with the score tied at 6-6 in the eighth and delivered with a RBI double to complete the cycle and also give UCF a 7-6 win.
Adkins broke the Tennessee school record for strikeouts during a complete-game win at LSU last Friday in which he allowed just three hits and struck out 14 batters. The preseason All-America selection got Jason Lewis to strikeout looking in the bottom of the sixth inning to break former big-leaguer and Vol great R.A. Dickey's school record of 345 strikeouts from 1994-96. Adkins now boasts 350 Ks for his career and has 103 on the season. A junior from Mt. Juliet, Tenn., Adkins needed just three pitches for six of his 14 Ks Friday. He allowed only one run while notching his sixth career complete game and his second of 2007.
With this week's honor, Adkins automatically are named to the watch list for Roger Clemens Award, given to the national collegiate pitcher of the year, sponsored by the Greater Houston Baseball Organization.
Fort Worth-based Pro-Line Athletic supplies the official cap to more than 100 Division I college teams and official uniforms and team wear to six Division 1 college teams. This is the third season Pro-Line has sponsored the NCBWA's Players of the Week. The sponsorship provides for plaques to be awarded to each of the weekly winners and other promotional consideration. For more information about Pro-Line, visit their Website at: www.prolineathletic.com .
