Big East Players of the Week

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Last week’s BIG EAST baseball action was highlighted by the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge in St. Petersburg and Clearwater, Fla. BIG EAST teams rebounded after last year’s series loss with a 17-13 victory over the Big Ten in the second installment of the challenge. Two BIG EAST teams went undefeated to lead the way for the conference. St. John’s, led by BIG EAST Player of the Week sophomore Joe Panik, went 3-0, as did Louisville, which was led by BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week junior Thomas Royse. 

Panik batted a team-best .625 (5-for-8) with one double and one triple and had a hand in three game-winning plays for the Red Storm. The shortstop had two RBI and three walks, while also leading the team in slugging percentage (1.000) and on-base percentage (.769).  Panik scored what proved to be the game-winning run in a 5-4 win against Minnesota and also had what proved to be the game-winning RBI double in a 2-1 win against Michigan. Panik scored the game-winning run in a 6-4 win against Illinois to close out the weekend. Panik reached base 10 times in the three games. This is his first career Player of the Week recognition.

Royse earns his second career Pitcher of the Week honor and first of 2010 following an impressive start against Michigan on Feb. 26. The junior allowed only two hits and finished with nine strikeouts in 6.0 innings to improve to 2-0 on the season as the 13th-ranked Cardinals earned a 2-0 win over the Wolverines. Royse has not allowed an earned run and has only given up four hits in 11.0 innings this season.

Honor Roll

Andrew Clark, Louisville, Sr., 1B

5-12, .417 AVG, 9 RBI, 2 HR, .917 SLG, Team: 4-0

T.J. Jones, Cincinnati, So., 2B

6-13, .462 AVG, 4 R, 1 2B, 5 RBI, Team: 2-1

Joe Leonard, Pittsburgh, Jr., 3B

6-14, .429 AVG, 2 R, 6 RBI, 2 2B, Team: 3-0

Brian Sand, Cincinnati, Jr., RHP

1-0, 5.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 SO, 0 BB, Team: 2-1

Matt Szcsur, Villanova, So., OF

9-15, .600 AVG, 6 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B, 1 3B, Team: 2-1