Big South Announces Baseball Players of the Week - May 8
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – USC Upstate’s Grant Sherrod (Sumner, Wash.) has been named the Big South Baseball Player of the Week, while the Spartans’ Henry Proger (Menifee, Calif.) is the Starting Pitcher of the Week for games played May 1-7, it was announced today. In addition, USC Upstate’s Derek Sivec (Fort Mill, S.C.) was selected the Relief Pitcher of the Week while Winthrop’s Harrison Wilson (Fort Mill, S.C.) is the Freshman of the Week honoree.
In four games, Sherrod hit .500 (9-18) and belted three home runs with five runs and eight RBI to lead USC Upstate to a perfect 4-0 record. He finished the week with a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .550 on-base percentage while drawing two walks and stealing one base. Sherrod opened the week going 3-5 with four RBI, two runs and a 3-run home run in Wednesday’s 14-7 home win over Queens. He then posted a second-straight three-hit game with two RBI and another home run in the series opener at Gardner-Webb on Friday before tacking on another hit in Saturday’s 4-0 win over the RUnnin’ Bulldogs. The Sumner, Wash. native finally capped off the week going 2-5 in Sunday’s 11-6 win highlighted by a third home run in four games to go along with two runs, two runs and a stolen base.
Proger pitched 8.0 complete innings with a career-best 10 strikeouts in USC Upstate’s shutout win over Gardner-Webb on Saturday. He allowed five hits and walked only one. He opened the game with at least one strikeout in five-straight innings, including multiple punchouts in first, second and third innings. He then struck out the side in the fourth before adding another in the fifth. He stranded four runners in total while limiting hitters to a .185 opponent batting average en route to his seventh win of the season.
Sivec tossed 5.0 innings and picked up the win after allowing just one hit and facing only one more than the minimum in Wednesday’s 14-7 win over Queens. He also struck out four and walked none. Entering in the top of the fourth after seeing seven Royals cross the plate through the opening three innings, Sivec allowed only two baserunners to reach – including one via error – while throwing a shutout over the next five innings. He retired the final 11 batters he faced and rounded out his day holding the opponent to just a .063 batting average.
Wilson batted .833 (5-6) with four runs and three RBI in two wins over Radford. He added one home run, one double and a triple. He made the most of his lone plate appearance on Saturday with a solo home run in Winthrop’s 22-11 victory over the Highlanders. He then followed up with a 4-5 performance on Sunday with a double, triple, two RBI and three runs scored in Sunday’s 13-5 victory to cap a weekend sweep of Radford.
Also nominated for Player of the Week: Bryce Arnold (Campbell), Javon Fields (High Point), Dylan Bacot (UNC Asheville) and Ramses Cordova (Winthrop).
Also nominated for Starting Pitcher of the Week: Chance Daquila (Campbell) and Gus Hughes (High Point).
Also nominated for Relief Pitcher of the Week: Ty Cummings (Campbell), Dalton Williams (High Point) and Dyson Johnson (Winthrop).
Also nominated for Freshman of the Week: Dalton Williams (High Point) and Jake Armsey (USC Upstate).