Big South Announces Baseball Players of the Week - Feb. 27
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – USC Upstate outfielder Jace Rinehart (Mannington, W.Va.) and Charleston Southern outfielder Cade Conway (Blosson, Texas) have been named the Big South Baseball Co-Players of the Week, while Winthrop’s Riley Huge (Davenport, Fla.) is the Starting Pitcher of the Week for games played February 19-25, it was announced today. In addition, Charleston Southern’s Evan Truitt (Berlin, Md.) was selected as the Relief Pitcher of the Week while USC Upstate’s Vance Sheahan (Lake Worth, Fla.) is the Freshman of the Week honoree.
Rinehart hit .556 (10-18) with nine runs, 11 RBI, five home runs, two doubles, one triple and three stolen bases in leading USC Upstate to a perfect 4-0 week. He posted a .579 on-base percentage while slugging 1.611 with eight extra-base hits, including a pair of multi-homer games against Western Carolina on Wednesday and as part of a five-hit, five-RBI performance on Saint Joseph’s on Sunday. His five total home runs were the most in the nation last week.
Conway batted .750 with 12 hits in 16 at-bats for Charleston Southern, the most hits in the nation last week. He added five runs, four RBI, three doubles, one triple and five stolen bases. He also had one walk while rounding out the week with a .778 on-base percentage and a 1.062 slugging percentage. He posted an extra-base hit in all four games highlighted by a triple on Saturday against Lehigh in a four-hit, four-RBI performance with three stolen bases.
Huge pitched 7.0 innings allowing only one hit and no walks to lead Winthrop to a 3-0 victory over Toledo. He allowed no runs while striking out 13, the most during his time as an Eagle. Huge mowed down the first 12 batters he faced without yielding a baserunner until giving up his first hit on a single with one out in the fifth. He then retired the next two batters in the inning before setting down the side in order in the sixth. The senior earned his first win of the season on the bump.
Truitt tossed 5.1 innings in relief on Saturday giving up only two hits and one run while striking out eight for Charleston Southern. He entered in the top of the third with the Bucs trailing 5-2 and went on to close out the frame without further damage. He then retired the side in order in back-to-back innings allowing CSU to overtake the lead and beat Lehigh. He finished the week with a 1.69 ERA.
Sheahan had at least one hit in all four games and finished with a .429 batting average (6-14) in four USC Upstate wins. He tallied five runs, four RBI and one stolen base while posting a .471 on-base percentage and slugging .571. He also doubled twice and walked once. The freshman collected his first extra-base hit on Wednesday against Western Carolina. He added another double against Canisius and logged the first stolen base of his career before rounding out the week with a 3-for-4 effort against Saint Joseph’s while driving home a career-best three runs and scoring two more.
Also nominated for Player of the Week: Tommy Tavarez (Gardner-Webb), Willie Havens (Longwood), Joel Dragoo (Presbyterian), Ben Williams (Radford), Robbie Burnett (UNC Asheville) and Charlie Evans (Winthrop).
Also nominated for Starting Pitcher of the Week: Michael Ciminiello (Gardner-Webb), Brett Wozniak (High Point), Guillermo Garcia, Jr. (Longwood), Charlie McDaniel (Presbyterian), Dylan Howard (Radford), Colby Guy (UNC Asheville) and Mathieu Curtis (USC Upstate).
Also nominated for Relief Pitcher of the Week: CJ Czerwinski (Gardner-Webb), Dallas Hairfield (Longwood), Sean Hollister (Presbyterian), Branden Barna (UNC Asheville), Cooper Ellingworth (USC Upstate) and Parker Kruglewicz (Winthrop).
Also nominated for Freshman of the Week: Parker Dixon (Gardner-Webb), Kyle Miller (Longwood) and Owen Sarna (Winthrop).