Big South Announces Baseball Players of the Week - March 18
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – USC Upstate infielder Troy Hamilton (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) has been named the Big South Baseball Player of the Week while the Spartans’ Noah Sullivan (Orlando, Fla.) is the Starting Pitcher of the Week for games played March 11-17, it was announced today. In addition, Charleston Southern’s Anthony Ramirez (Santa Clarita, Calif.) was selected as the Relief Pitcher of the Week while High Point’s Frank Kelly (Lexington, S.C.) is the Freshman of the Week honoree.
Hamilton batted .474 (9-19) with eight runs, eight RBI, one double and three home runs in leading USC Upstate to a perfect 5-0 record last week. He also drew four walks and stole two bases while rounding out the week with a .542 on-base percentage and a 1.000 slugging percentage. Hamilton opened the week with a homer in the first of two games against Tennessee Tech before following up with a walk-off blast in the second game of the two-game series. He then opened the 2024 Big South slate by hitting .500 (6-12) during a sweep of Gardner-Webb while combining for four runs and five RBI with a double and another home run. He tallied at least one hit in all five games, an extra-base hit in four of the five, and multiple hits in three of the five contests.
Sullivan posted a career-best outing in game one of the Spartans’ series versus Gardner-Webb, tossing a career-high 7.0 innings while striking out a career-best seven batters. He scattered six hits and permitted only eight baserunners as he earned his third quality start of the year, allowing no runs and combining for a shutout for the second time this season. He picked up a strikeout in four of his seven innings, striking out multiple hitters in a frame twice, including striking out the side in the fourth. Sullivan also recorded three of his strikeouts to strand a runner at third, including back-to-back strikeouts with the bases loaded in the sixth. The Orlando, Fla. native notched his fourth win of the year, tied for the most in the Big South this season.
Ramirez allowed just one hit and no earned runs in 5.0 innings to pick up the win in Charleston Southern’s 3-2 conference victory over High Point on Saturday. He struck out two and walked only one after entering in the fifth inning and going the distance from that point on while allowing the Buccaneers to score the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh to clinch a series win against the Panthers. Ramirez retired the side in three of his five innings of work.
Kelly batted .462 (6-13) with two runs, four RBI and a double in four starts last week for High Point. He had at least one hit in all four games, as well as multiple hits and two. He also stole one base and walked one time. A native of Lexington, S.C., the freshman opened the week going 2-4 with two RBI, one double and one stolen base in a win over Elon. He added one hit in the conference opener at Charleston Southern, and he followed up with one hit and one RBI in game two before capping the week with a 2-4 performance with two runs and another RBI in an 11-inning victory over the Buccaneers on Sunday.
Also nominated for Player of the Week: Cade Conway (Charleston Southern), Alec Burns (Gardner-Webb), Cael Chatham (High Point), Keondre Shelton (Longwood), Carson Bell (Radford), and Alan Benhardt (Winthrop).
Also nominated for Starting Pitcher of the Week: Blake Brogdon (Gardner-Webb) and Riley Huge (Winthrop).
Also nominated for Relief Pitcher of the Week: Connor Maggi (Gardner-Webb), Kevin Warunek (Longwood), and Jake Cubbler (USC Upstate).
Also nominated for Freshman of the Week: Blagen Pado (Longwood), Breckin Nace (Radford), Cooper Ellingworth (USC Upstate), and Chancellor Jennings (Winthrop).