SPARTANBURG, SC -- The Southern Conference today named The Citadel’s Chris Swauger as the league’s first baseball Player of the Week for the 2006 season, while Elon’s Lance Cole was tabbed as the conference’s Pitcher of the Week.
In four games the Bulldogs’ Swauger produced multiple hit games in all four contests, finishing the week hitting .600 (9-for-15). The Tampa, FL, native drove in seven runs and scored four times as The Citadel went 2-1 last weekend at the Homewood Suites Shootout at Riley Park. Four of his nine hits went for extra bases, including a double and a triple that was part of a 2-for-3 day with three RBIs and two runs scored in a win over third-ranked Nebraska. Swauger was also 3-for-4 (2 RBIs and 2 runs) in a victory over Richmond and was 2-for-4 with an RBI in a loss to 19th-ranked NC State.
The Phoenix’s Cole opened the season with two wins in each of his first two appearances and finished with a 0.66 ERA in 13.2 innings of work. The senior right-handed pitcher from Asheboro, NC, opened the season with a win over then 14th-ranked South Carolina, going 7.2 innings and surrendering one run on five hits to register the victory. He then tossed six shutout innings on Sunday against Fordham, giving up three hits while fanning six.
Others considered for the Player of the Week award included Appalachian State’s Rand Smith (5-for-7 with three extra base hits in a doubleheader with Buffalo), College of Charleston’s Joey Friddle (hit .458 and drive in five runs in six games), Elon’s Chris Price (drove in 10 runs and hit .467 over a six-game span), Georgia Southern’s Griffin Benedict (batted .529 with nine RBIs in five games), UNC Greensboro’s Guy Welsh (two three-hit games at Georgia) and Wofford’s Adam Wood (batted .324 over first nine games and has a current seven-game hitting streak).
Others considered for Pitcher of the Week were Appalachian State’s Garrett Sherrill (struck out four in 5.0 innings in picking up win over Buffalo), College of Charleston’s Josh McLaughlin (picked up win in relief at East Carolina, allowing two hits and an unearned run in 4.1 innings), The Citadel’s Link Saunders (recorded saves against Richmond and Nebraska), Davidson’s Rob Wilson (Tossed six shutout innings in win against Georgetown, striking out seven), Georgia Southern’s Josh Lairney (recorded win over Saint Joseph’s, going 6.2 innings and fanning four) and Wofford’s Charles Vartanian (is 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA in three starts, striking out 16 batters in 20.0 innings of work).