SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Wofford outfielder Marshall Toole and Samford right-hander Michael Ross have been named the Southern Conference baseball player and pitcher of the week, respectively, for all competition from April 1-7. The awards are selected by the league office.
 
Toole hit .571 (12-of-21) last week with nearly half of his hits going for extra bases. He recorded 10 RBIs while slugging an even 1.000 and posted a .625 on-base percentage. The Decatur, Georgia, native was also a perfect 5-of-5 in stolen base attempts, stretching his on-base streak to 30 games. Toole has swiped all 27 bases he has attempted to steal this season, which is just one shy of the second-longest consecutive stolen base streak in program history. Toole tallied three hits in three of the five games last week. On April 2 at Charleston Southern, he hit a lead-off homer on the second pitch of the game and drove in a career-best four RBIs during a 29-7 victory for the Terriers. He also recorded three hits in a 15-9 win at Elon on April 3, and in an 8-3 victory over UNCG on April 6.

Ross, who earned the honor for the second time this season, pitched a complete-game, nine-inning, one-hit shutout in Samford's 2-0 win in game one of the team's SoCon series at The Citadel last Friday (April 5). He allowed a hit to The Citadel's first batter of the game, then held the Bulldogs hitless the rest of the way. He recorded nine strikeouts in the win, while allowing just two walks. The Lakeland, Florida, native leads the conference in wins this season with seven and is second in the SoCon in ERA at 2.66. He has allowed just 37 hits over 50.2 innings of work and has limited opposing hitters to a .199 batting-average-against.

Wofford (21-9, 6-3 SoCon) opens a four-game nonconference road swing at North Florida in a midweek contest on Wednesday (April 10), before opening a three-game series at Florida International over the weekend. Samford (21-10, 6-0), hosts Kentucky on Tuesday (April 9) and welcomes ETSU (20-10, 2-1) for a three-game series on Friday-Sunday (April 12-14).
 
Other nominees for player of the week: Noah Gent (ETSU), Caleb Cozart (UNCG), John Anderson (Samford), Justin Starke (VMI) and Zach Ketterman (Western Carolina)
 
Other nominees for pitcher of the week: Owen Kovacs (ETSU), Rob Ready (UNCG), Jack Thompson (VMI), Dusty Revis (Western Carolina) and Camden Wicker (Wofford)
 


2024 SoCon Baseball Players of the Week
Feb. 19                            Caleb Cozart, Sr., INF, UNCG
Feb. 26            Parker Lester, Jr., 1B, Mercer
March 4          Garrett Howe, Sr., INF, Samford
March 11        Dixon Black, Jr., 3B, Wofford
March 18        Nate Stocum, Sr., OF, Western Carolina
March 25        Andrew Bennett, Sr., OF, Samford
April 1            Ty Dalley, So., OF, Mercer
April 8            Marshall Toole, Jr., OF, Wofford

2024 SoCon Baseball Pitchers of the Week
Feb. 19                           Michael Ross, Sr., RHP, Samford
Feb. 26            Julien Peissel, So., RHP, UNCG
March 4        Braden Hofmeyer, Jr., RHP, Wofford
March 11        Graham Yntema, Sr., LHP, Mercer        
March 18        Jonathan Todd, Sr., RHP, Western Carolina
March 25        Rob Ready, Jr., RHP, UNCG
April 1            Alex Flood, Gr., RHP, Samford
April 8            Michael Ross, Sr., RHP, Samfor