Big South Announces Baseball Players of the Week - March 25
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – High Point infielder Adam Stuart (Raleigh, N.C.) has been named the Big South Baseball Player of the Week while teammate Gus Hughes (Greensboro, N.C.) is the Starting Pitcher of the Week for games played March 18-24, it was announced today. In addition, Longwood’s Kevin Warunek (Gainesville, Va.) was selected as the Relief Pitcher of the Week while Radford’s Mason Self (Christiansburg, Va.) is the Freshman of the Week honoree.
Stuart batted .562 (9-16) and combined for six runs and six RBIs to lead High Point to a 3-1 record last week. He hit two home runs, tallied four extra-base hits and registered multiple hits in all four games, including a home run and a double to highlight a three-hit performance in Saturday’s win over Richmond. Stuart started the week with a 2-for-4 day at the plate at No. 16 Wake Forest before opening the weekend series with a double, two hits, one run scored and an RBI against the Spiders. On Sunday, he homered for the second consecutive game and racked up four RBIs to lead the Panthers to a three-game sweep.
Hughes struck out nine and allowed just four hits and one earned run in 7.0 innings to earn the win Friday night against Richmond. His nine strikeouts were a season-high, as the senior fanned at least one batter in six of his seven innings of work, including striking out the side in the top of the seventh to preserve a 3-1 Panthers lead. Hughes allowed no extra-base hits and finished the week with a 1.29 earned run average while improving to 3-2 on the season with the win.
Warunek earned a win for Longwood after pitching the final 2.0 innings on Sunday against Presbyterian and allowing just one hit and no earned runs. He punched out four of the six batters he faced, including striking out the side with a one-run lead in the top of the ninth after the Lancers scored a pair in the eighth to take a 4-3 advantage. He allowed only one runner to reach base safely and has now thrown three consecutive outings without yielding a run.
Self batted .571 with five runs scored, three RBIs, two home runs and a double for Radford. Three of his four hits went for extra bases, and he also walked once and was hit by a pitch. Self opened the week going 1-for-2 with two runs scored while reaching base safely three times at VMI. He then blasted the first two home runs of his career in a 3-for-5 afternoon at the plate on Sunday to help the Highlanders pick up a series win over USC Upstate, the Big South preseason favorite. He also added a double against the Spartans to go along with three runs scored and three RBIs to cap off his career day.
Also nominated for Player of the Week: Dakota Miller (Charleston Southern), Humberto Torres (Gardner-Webb), Brody Fahr (Presbyterian), Hunter Keen (Radford), Grant Sherrod (USC Upstate) and Harrison Wilson (Winthrop).
Also nominated for Starting Pitcher of the Week: CJ Czerwinski (Gardner-Webb), Charlie McDaniel (Presbyterian) and Dylan Howard (Radford).
Also nominated for Relief Pitcher of the Week: Evan Truitt (Charleston Southern), Connor Maggi (Gardner-Webb), Dalton Olsovsky (High Point), Sean Hollister (Presbyterian) and Caleb Jones (Winthrop).
Also nominated for Freshman of the Week: Frank Kelly (High Point), Blagen Pado (Longwood), Aaron Hobson (Presbyterian) and Chazz Grossington (Winthrop).