Baseball Southern Conference

Mercer?s Lewis, UNCG?s Sykes earn weekly SoCon honors

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Mercer outfielder Kyle Lewis and UNCG right-hander Chad Sykes have been named the Southern Conference player and pitcher of the week, respectively, for all games April 27 to May 3. The selections are made by the league office.

Lewis hit .538 last week to lead the Bears to a three-game sweep of VMI and back to the top of the SoCon standings. The sophomore slugged 1.231 with seven RBIs and four runs scored. He hit home runs in all three games.

In the series opener on Friday, Lewis went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and a walk as Mercer won 7-2. The following day, he was 3-for-4 with a game-tying two-run homer and two singles, picking up three RBIs on the day as Mercer won 7-6.

The Snellville, Ga., native wrapped up his week with a 2-for-5 performance in Sunday’s 16-11 win, hitting a three-run homer in the first inning and adding a single and an intentional walk, scoring twice.

The big week pushed Lewis’ batting average to a league-best .403 on the year. He also paces the SoCon with 73 hits, 128 total bases and a .707 slugging percentage and was named one of Collegiate Baseball/Louisville Slugger’s national players of the week Monday.

Mercer (29-18, 14-6 SoCon) will host Georgia Tech on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in its lone contest of the week.

Also nominated: Austin Mapes (The Citadel), Jordan Sanford (ETSU), Hunter King (UNCG), Alex Lee (Samford), Matt Winn (VMI), Bradley Strong (Western Carolina) and Carson Waln (Wofford).

Sykes threw a career-high six innings Sunday in UNCG’s 14-7 win over Wofford. The Spartan freshman allowed just one run on four hits, all singles, and four walks, striking out a career-high eight batters.

The Creedmoor, N.C., native retired five of the first seven batters he faced and six straight to finish his day as he picked up his first career win.

UNCG (21-22, 11-10 SoCon) returns to action with a three-game SoCon series at VMI (15-26, 8-10 SoCon) starting Friday at 6 p.m.

Also nominated: James Reeves (The Citadel), Ryan Simpler (ETSU), Eric Nyquist (Mercer), Andres Gracia (Samford), Brendan Nails (Western Carolina) and Matthew Milburn (Wofford).

2015 SoCon Players of the Week
Feb. 16    Trey York, ETSU
Feb. 23    Damon Waller, Samford
March 2    Trey York, ETSU
March 9    Zac MacAneney, UNCG
March 16    Kevin Phillips, ETSU
March 23    Kyle Lewis, Mercer
March 30    Austin Edens, Samford
April 6    Conor Clancey, Wofford
April 13    Matt Smith, Western Carolina
April 20    Austin Edens, Samford
April 27    James Plaisted, Wofford
May 4    Kyle Lewis, Mercer

2015 SoCon Pitchers of the Week
Feb. 16    B.J. Nobles, Western Carolina
Feb. 23    Ryan Askew, Mercer
March 2    Adam Scott, Wofford
March 9    Eric Nyquist, Mercer
March 16    Luke Leftwich, Wofford
March 23    Eric Nyquist, Mercer
March 30    Grant Papelian, Mercer
April 6    James Reeves, The Citadel
April 13    Grant Schuermann, Furman
April 20    Ryan Clark, UNCG
April 27    Matthew Quarles, Furman
May 4    Chad Sykes, UNCG

-www.SoConSports.com-