Week two of Conference play is upon us and Southern Miss will visit Rice this weekend, attempting to hand the Owls their first conference loss. Memphis will put its unblemished league mark on the line at Marshall. Elsewhere, East Carolina will visit UCF and Tulane will travel to UAB.
HITTER OF THE WEEK
RICK HAGUE, RICE
Freshman, SS, Spring, Texas
For the week, Hague hit safely in all five outings to extend his current hitting streak to 10 games. He batted a composite .500, collecting eight hits in 16 at bats with two doubles and two home runs for a 1.000 slugging percentage. For the week, he drove in eight runs and scored five times. Hague drew a pair of walks and was hit by a pitch, giving him a .579 on-base percentage. He also executed three sacrifice bunts and made 17 defensive assists and five put outs from his spot at short.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
BARRY BOWDEN, SOUTHERN MISS
Senior, RHP, Vidalia, La.
Bowden was strong against No. 16 UCF in the C-USA opener on Friday night, striking out 14 Knights in route to his fourth victory of the season. Bowden allowed only one run through eight innings and two runners left on base scored after he exited the game in the ninth inning. He allowed three hits in the third inning to load the bases but struck out two consecutive UCF hitters to end their only threat of the game. Bowden did not allow another hit until the seventh inning. He struck out seven Knight batters in the first three innings and at least one batter in every inning. Bowden’s 14 strikeouts is a new career high and placed him sixth all-time on the Southern Miss strikeout list. This is Bowden’s second Pitcher of the Week honor this season.
