SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? Elon catcher and designated hitter Mike Melillo has been named the Southern Conference Baseball Player of the Week while Appalachian State’s Nathan Hyatt has been selected as the league’s Pitcher of the Week for all games from March 29 ? April 4.
Melillo batted .476 (10-for-21) in five games last week as Elon went 4-1 overall and 3-0 in SoCon play. The senior had four multi-hit games and seven of his 10 hits went for extra bases, including three doubles, two triples and a pair of home runs. Melillo was 2-for-4 with 4 RBIs in the Phoenix’s 17-12 win over Wake Forest on Wednesday, and he followed that with a 4-for-4, 5-RBI effort in Friday’s series-opening win over UNC Greensboro. For the week, Melillo drove in 13 runs while scoring seven times.
Hyatt allowed just two hits in 8.1 innings of work during three relief appearances last week for Appalachian State. Against East Tennessee State on Wednesday, the freshman right-hander struck out six batters in 4.2 innings while earning his first career victory. In a pair of appearances from the bullpen against Furman over the weekend, Hyatt totaled 3.2 innings pitched without allowing a hit as ASU took two-of-three from the Paladins.
Other hitters receiving consideration were Matt Leeds (College of Charleston), Wayne Miller (Samford), Matt Johns (Western Carolina), Jeremy Dowdy (Appalachian State), Justin Mackert (The Citadel), Paul Nitto (Furman) and James Foster (Wofford).
Other top performers among pitchers were Daniel Britt (Elon), Tom Schiller (College of Charleston), Austin Pritcher (The Citadel), Lex Rutledge (Samford), Brandon Johnson (Western Carolina) and J.D. Osborne (Wofford).
2010 SoCon Baseball Players of the Week
Feb. 22 Corey Overholtzer, UNC Greensboro
March 1 Andrew Barna, Davidson
March 8 Will Owens, Furman
March 15 David Schulze, Samford
March 22 Rob Kral, College of Charleston
March 29 Ryan Adams, Elon
April 5 Mike Melillo, Elon
2010 SoCon Baseball Pitchers of the Week
Feb. 22 Asher Wojciechowski, The Citadel
March 1 Matt Andress, Appalachian State
March 8 Jason Sullivan, Western Carolina
March 15 Asher Wojciechowski, The Citadel
March 22 Kevin Decker, College of Charleston
March 29 Andy Moye, Georgia Southern
April 5 Nathan Hyatt, Appalachian State