Photo Credit: W.G. Sports Photos
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Winthrop catcher John Murrian (Summerville, S.C.) has been selected as the Big South Conference Choice Hotels Baseball Player of the Week, while Coastal Carolina redshirt-junior Austin Fleet (Edmond, Okla.) has been named New Balance Pitcher of the Week for games played the opening weekend of the 2009 season, it was announced today by the League office.
Murrian batted .600 (10-15) with two doubles, one triple, two home runs and 10 RBI, in addition to a 1.267 slugging percentage and .588 on-base average in four wins. He posted three multi-hit games, including a 3-5 performance in the season opener Friday vs. Eastern Michigan. He doubled, tripled and homered in the game and scored three runs and knocked in five. On Saturday against George Washington, he was 3-4 at the plate with three driven in, plus a double and a homer. Later in the day against EMU, he had another hit and recorded a sacrifice fly. He concluded the weekend with a 2-3 day and two runs scored on Sunday vs. the Colonials.
Fleet earned a huge win for the Chanticleers, allowing just three hits and one run while striking out six and allowing no walks in a 4-1 victory over No. 19 Kentucky on Feb. 21. Fleet retired the first seven hitters and allowed just one extra-base hit in holding the Wildcats to a .136 batting average. Fleet’s line last week: 1-0, 1.50 ERA, 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R/ER, 0 BB, 6 SO.
Other Baseball Player of the Week Nominees: Patrick Dolan (Charleston Southern), Jose Iglesias (Coastal Carolina), Daniel Cooke (Gardner-Webb), Eric Marion (High Point), Tyler Bream (Liberty), Jesse Harmon (Presbyterian), Will Naylor (Radford) and Jordan Ballard (VMI).
Other Baseball Pitcher of the Week Nominees: Tyler Thornburg (Charleston Southern), Brian Jones (High Point), Mark Swanson (Liberty) and Robert Lake (Winthrop).
