Rice freshman pitcher Jordan Stephenshas been named the Conference USA Pitcher of the Week for March 5-11 the league office announced Monday morning from its headquarters in Irving, Tex. East Carolina’s Drew Reynolds was named the C-USA Hitter of the Week.
Stephens pitched 6.2 shutout innings in the finale of the three-game weekend road series at Stanford on Sunday (Mar. 11) to earn his second career victory. The standout from Alvin, Tex., allowed just three singles and three walks while posting two strikeouts in keeping No. 2 Stanford, a team that had averaged 14 runs per game on Sundays (the final game of weekend series), off the scoreboard for 6.2 frames. He held 26 opposing hitters to a composite .163 batting average. Stephens has in fact now thrown 13.2 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to March 4 where he was named the Most Outstanding Player of the annual Houston College Classic.
The C-USA honor is the first of his career for Stephens. He is the third Owl to earn a Hitter/Pitcher of the week honor from the conference office. The senior duo of Michael Fuda and Matthew Reckling were named the C-USA Hitter & Pitcher of the Week for Feb. 27, respectively.
Drew Reynolds led East Carolina in hitting on the week, batting .636 (7-for-11) with a home run, two runs scored and three multi-hit games at the DRASH Alabama Baseball Classic, where the Pirates posted a 3-0 record.
The Owls (13-4) have closed out a recent rugged stretch of playing eight of the last nine games played away from home. Rice now begins a six-game homestand at Reckling Park on March 13. The Blue & Gray hosts national power Arizona in a two-game midweek set on Tues.-Wed. Start times against the Wildcats are set for 6 pm on Tuesday and 6:30 pm Wednesday. Both contests will be televised by CSS Sports.
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