Chris Wallace
After making a quick return from injury, Houston’s Chris Wallace was outstanding at the plate in leading Houston to a 4-0 week, garnering him Conference USA Hitter of the Week honors. The Pitcher of the Week award went to Southern Miss’ Seth Hester who threw a rare midweek complete game victory for the Golden Eagles.
After missing nearly 19 games as the result of a face injury that required surgery, Wallace returned to the line-up on Wednesday night and finished for the week 9-for-18 at the plate with four doubles, three home runs and 13 RBI. In his return game on Wednesday against UTSA, Wallace went 4-for-5, hitting a three-run homer in his first trip to the plate. He followed that up with a single and his second home run of the night, a two-run blast. On the night, he set a career-high with six RBI and recorded his second two home run game of the year. Wallace followed that up with a 3-for-4 night in the series opener against Texas-Pan American. Once again in his first at bat, Wallace hit one over the fence and followed that up with an RBI double and an RBI single. In his final two weekend games, Wallace had a double in each contest that scored two runs. He finished the weekend with a .500 batting average, a 1.222 slugging percentage and a .550 on base percentage. Wallace now leads the team with five home runs and is third on the team with 16 RBI, despite playing in only 12 games.
Hester had the best outing of his young career while picking up his first win of the season, throwing a seven-inning complete-game shutout at Troy on Wednesday to finish a doubleheader sweep for the Golden Eagles. He worked seven shutout innings, allowing only two hits while walking two and striking out two. He faced just three hitters over the minimum, coaxing the Trojans into hitting two double plays. He allowed only five base runners on the afternoon, none of which reached as far as second base.
