SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Mercer catcher Charlie Madden and The Citadel left-hander JP Sears have been named the Southern Conference player and pitcher of the week, respectively, for all games March 20-26. The selections are made by the league office.
Madden hit .400 and slugged 1.000 in five games last week to help the Bears to a 4-1 mark and a series win to open SoCon play. He hit three home runs and three doubles, as six of his eight hits went for extra bases, drove in eight runs and scored seven.
Madden hit .556 in the Bears’ two-game midweek sweep Florida A&M, which boasts an RPI of 20 in the latest rankings and handed Mercer two of its five losses earlier this season. In Tuesday’s 9-2 win, the senior from Atlanta, Georgia, was 2-for-4 with a homer, a double, a walk, two RBIs and three runs scored. The next day, he doubled in a 3-for-5 effort, scoring twice and driving in a run in the 11-5 win.
Against ETSU over the weekend, Madden hit a tie-breaking two-run homer in the eighth inning of Friday’s 5-2 win. The next day, he had an RBI double and a two-run homer in the first two innings of a 5-2 win. He drew a walk in Sunday’s 9-2 loss as the Bucs avoided the sweep.
The weekly award is the second of the season for Madden, who was also honored on Feb. 27.
Mercer, off to a 21-5 to the season (2-1 SoCon), hosts Georgia Tech at 6 p.m. Tuesday in a game that will air on ESPN3 and American Sports Network. The Bears then return to league play at Furman (11-11, 1-2 SoCon) for a three-game set starting Friday at 6 p.m.
Also nominated: Jonathan Sabo (The Citadel), Chris Cook (ETSU), Ben Spitznagel (UNCG), T.J. Dixon (Samford), Bryson Bowman (Western Carolina) and Brett Hash (Wofford).
The Citadel’s Sears turned in a dominant effort Friday, striking out a career-best 20 batters to match a school record in a two-hit, 3-0 shutout of rival VMI in the Bulldogs’ SoCon opener. The 20 strikeouts were the most in an NCAA Division I game this season and tied for the second-most in SoCon history. Taking into account a 19-strikeout performance against the Keydets nearly a year ago to the day (March 25, 2016), Sears now has two of the top six strikeout games in league history.
The junior from Sumter, South Carolina, struck out at least two batters in eight of the nine innings Friday, including the side in the second, sixth and eighth innings. Sears allowed a third-inning double, a fifth-inning single and a pair of walks in the sixth.
The Bulldogs’ workhorse went at least seven innings for the fifth straight start. He has a SoCon-best 63 strikeouts against just seven walks and his 1.70 ERA leads the league by more than half a run.
The weekly award is Sears’ fourth, as he won twice in 2016 and has now won twice this season. Coincidentally, he and Madden were honored together on Feb. 27.
For his efforts, Sears was also named one of Collegiate Baseball’s National Players of the Week.
The Citadel (9-15, 2-1 SoCon) hosts No. 6 South Carolina on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a contest that can be viewed on the SoCon Digital Network before heading to Cullowhee, North Carolina, for weekend set at Western Carolina (9-14, 1-2). Friday’s and Sunday’s games against the Catamounts can also be seen on the SDN.
Also nominated: Blake Smith (ETSU), Ryan Askew (Mercer), Jack Maynard (UNCG), Jared Brasher (Samford), B.J. Nobles (Western Carolina) and Spencer Kulman (Wofford).
2017 SoCon Players of the Week
Feb. 20 Chris Cook, ETSU
Feb. 27 Charlie Madden, Mercer
March 6 Will Malbon, VMI
March 13 Austin Embler, UNCG
March 20 JT Thomas, Mercer
March 27 Charlie Madden, Mercer
2017 SoCon Pitchers of the Week
Feb. 20 Matt Frisbee, UNCG
Feb. 27 JP Sears, The Citadel
March 6 Adam Scott, Wofford
March 13 Bryan Sammons, Western Carolina
March 20 Blake Smith, ETSU
March 27 JP Sears, The Citadel
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