SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Mercer’s outfielder Kel Johnson and VMI’s right-hander Zak Kent have been named the Southern Conference player and pitcher of the week, respectively, for all games March 11 – 17. The selections are made by the league office.

Starting all five games for the Bears in the outfield this past week, Johnson hit .350 from the plate with 10 RBI’s and four homeruns. The graduate student hit all four of his home runs against Binghamton, hitting two of them on Saturday. The Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia, native extended his reached base streak to 20 consecutive games with at least one hit in all four games this past week, including two hits in each of the three weekend games. He currently leads the SoCon in RBIs (27), home runs (10) and is tied for total bases (56) with teammate RJ Yeager.

Mercer (11-10) welcomes Georgia Tech (13-7) on Tuesday before opening conference play against UNCG (13-5) this weekend.

Also nominated: Jeffrey Brown (The Citadel), Ethan Cady (ETSU), Sonny DiChiara (Samford), Hogan Windish (UNCG), Ryan Hatten (VMI), Matthew Koehler (Western Carolina) and Lawson Hill (Wofford).

VMI’s Kent went seven innings against Lehigh on Sunday, striking out 15 and giving up just one hit, one walk and one run while tossing 103 pitches. The junior tied the school record for strikeouts in a single game in the aluminum bat era, a mark set in 1998. He improved his record to 2-2 on the season and his ERA to 4.11. The Heathsville, Virginia, native was also named one of this week’s Collegiate Baseball’s players of the week and currently leads the conference in batters struck out (46).

The Keydets (4-15) welcome the Big South’s Radford Highlanders (6-13) on Tuesday before opening conference play against The Citadel (7-12) this weekend.

Also nominated: Micah Kaczor (ETSU), Kevin Coulter (Mercer), Zach Hester (Samford), Phillip Sanderson (UNCG), Zach Franklin (Western Carolina) and Austin Higginbotham (Wofford).

2019 SoCon Players of the Week

Feb. 18       Jackson Greer, ETSU

Feb. 25       RJ Yeager, Mercer

March 4      Daylan Nanny, Western Carolina

March 11    Immanuel Wilder, Western Carolina

March 18    Kel Johnson, Mercer

2019 SoCon Pitchers of the Week

Feb. 18       Shane Connolly, The Citadel

Feb. 25       Jordan Merritt, The Citadel

March 4      Hayes Heinecke, Wofford

March 11    Hayes Heinecke, Wofford

March 18    Zach Kent, VMI

-www.SoConSports.com-