Big South Announces Baseball Players of the Week - March 28
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) –- UNC Asheville’s Michael Groves (Holly Springs, N.C.) has been named the Big South Baseball Player of the Week, while USC Upstate’s Austin Morgan (Easley, S.C.) is the Starting Pitcher of the Week for games played March 21-27, it was announced today. In addition, Longwood’s Sean Gibbons (Roanoke, Va.) was selected the Relief Pitcher of the Week, while High Point’s Everett Vaughan (Moseley, Va.) is the Freshman of the Week.
Groves batted .467 (7-15) with five extra-base hits (four doubles, one triple), eight RBI and four runs scored in helping the Bulldogs to a 4-0 week. He opened with a double and 2 RBI in Asheville’s 5-1 win at Western Carolina last Tuesday. In the Bulldogs’ three-game sweep of Charleston Southern, Groves hit .500 for the series, which featured a double and run scored in game one, a 4-5 day with 3 RBI, two doubles and a triple in game two, and 3 RBI, two walks and a hit in the series finale.
Morgan allowed just four hits, one run/earned run, and one walk with eight strikeouts in a career-best 7.0 innings in defeating Radford on Friday, 9-1.
Gibbons earned the save in Longwood’s 11-8 victory over North Carolina A&T on Saturday. He struck out two batters in 2.1 innings, and permitted just one hit with no runs or walks allowed.
Vaughan picked up three saves last week, including two in High Point’s series win over Winthrop. He first saved High Point’s 9-8 win at UNC Greensboro last Tuesday. Vaughan then induced a pop out with the tying-run on third in the Panthers’ 5-4 win over Winthrop on Friday, and followed with a scoreless inning plus a game-ending strikeout in Saturday’s 3-2 victory over the Eagles.
Also nominated for Player of the Week: Jarrod Belbin (Campbell), Adam Stuart (High Point), Eliot Dix (Longwood), Noah Myers (USC Upstate) and Joey Tepper (Winthrop).
Also nominated for Starting Pitcher of the Week: Thomas Harrington (Campbell), Andrew Potojecki (Longwood), Jacob Edwards (UNC Asheville) and Tyler Jones (Winthrop).
Also nominated for Relief Pitcher of the Week: Everett Vaughan (High Point), Justin Honeycutt (UNC Asheville), Nate Payne (USC Upstate) and Dalton Mims (Winthrop).
Also nominated for Freshman of the Week: Kevin Warunek (Longwood), Canyon Brown (North Carolina A&T), Robbie Burnett (UNC Asheville) and Cole Caruso (USC Upstate).