SPARTANBURG, SC -- The Southern Conference today named Western Carolina’s Jonathan Greene the league’s final baseball Player of the Week for the 2006 season, while The Citadel’s Justin Smith was tabbed as the conference’s Pitcher of the Week.

Greene, a sophomore third baseman, hit .722 (13-for-18) on the week with five home runs, two doubles and nine RBIs over a four-game span.  He also added seven runs scored, at least three hits in each contest, was perfect in 12 chances in the field and finished with a 1.667 slugging percentage.  Greene’s average jumped 34 percentage points to .333 after his performance last week.  The Boone, NC native hit a homer in each of the four games, including two in the regular season finale against Furman.  Greene opened the week going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI against East Tennessee State, then followed with a 10-for-14 (.714) performance in a three-game series versus the Paladins.

The Citadel’s Smith made three relief appearances against College of Charleston, picking up a win and registering a 1.17 ERA in 7.2 innings pitched.  The junior right-handed pitcher from Clinton, SC tossed two innings of one-hit ball and struck out two en route to earning the victory in Friday’s 4-2 win over the Cougars.  Smith then pitched 5.2 innings in relief over the next two games, giving up one earned run on five hits and striking out three.

Others considered for the Player of the Week award included Appalachian State’s Ben Billingsley (.500 average with two HRs, five RBIs, five runs and five walks over a four-game span), The Citadel’s Chance Smith (3-for-4 with two HRs and four RBIs in win Saturday at CofC), Davidson’s Jay Heafner (4-for-8 with a game-winning HR, six runs, two RBIs and eight walks in series with Appalachian State), Elon’s Paul Bennett (.500 average in four games with six runs and five RBIs), Georgia Southern’s Jeremiah Parker (hit .615 with five runs and three RBIs against Wofford), UNC Greensboro’s Jermaine Mitchell (7-for-14 in four games with four RBIs) and Wofford’s Zach Pittman (10-for-18 in four games with three extra base hits and six runs).

Others considered for Pitcher of the Week were Elon’s Steven Hensley (struck out nine and allowed three earned runs on five hits in 8.0 innings of work in win over UNC Greensboro), Georgia Southern’s Everett Teaford (in 8.0 innings, struck out nine and allowed three runs on five hits), UNC Greensboro’s Ryan Falcon (struck out eight and allowed two earned runs in 6.2 innings of work in win over Elon) and Wofford’s J.D. Melton (picked up win in relief against Georgia Southern, giving up one run on three hits in 2.0 innings of work).