University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Cook Named National Hitter of the Week
3/4/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Cook Named National Hitter of the Week
Cook hit .571 (8/14) for the week, including a double, a triple, a stolen base, two home runs (both grand slams) and nine RBIs. He had an on-base percentage of .600, a slugging percentage of 1.214 and a fielding percentage of 1.000 (eight chances).
The grand slams he hit were in back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday, marking the first Southern Miss batter to hit grand slams in back-to-back games and also what is believed to be the first in Conference USA history as well.
In Saturday's game, Cook hit for the cycle, becoming the first Southern Miss baseball player to accomplish that feat since Cliff Wren did it in 1998 against UNO at the Louisiana Superdome in the Winn-Dixie Classic. Cook hit a single in the fourth inning, a double in the eighth inning, a triple in the first inning and the homer, which he hit with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Golden Eagles the 17-15 come-from-behind victory.
In game three, Southern Miss tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning when Griff Israel hit a solo homer over the right field wall. Five batters later, the bases were loaded when Cook once again hit a grand slam (1-2 count) over the right field wall.
The Golden Eagles travel to Monroe, La., for a two-game series with Louisiana-Monroe on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., and Wednesday at 3 p.m. Southern Miss will host Southeast Missouri State at home on Mar. 7-9, for a three-game weekend series. Friday's game will start at 6:30 p.m., Saturday's at 2 p.m., and Sunday's at 1 p.m.
