University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Best Named National Co-Pitcher of the Week By NCBWA
3/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 21, 2006
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released the Pro-Line Cap National Player of the Week awards for the period ending March 21, today.
James Madison sophomore centerfielder Kellen Kulbacki was named National Hitter of the Week, while Southern Miss senior right-hand closer Daniel Best and Texas Tech redshirt freshman right-hander Miles Morgan were named National Co-Pitchers of the Week. The NCBWA Board reviews candidates from each Division I Conference each week and names winners each Tuesday throughout the season.
Best, who was named the Conference USA Pitcher of the Week yesterday, made four appearances last week and finished with a win and a save. He pitched seven innings and allowed just one unearned run on three hits, striking out 10 and not walking any. He earned the win in Saturday's game against Troy, retiring 12 consecutive batters, including seven strikeouts. Opponent batters hit .125 off of him for the week.
He came on in the eighth inning in game three with runners on first and third with one out and forced a double play to end the inning. He then gave up two hits but struck out two and forced a fly out to end the game and earn the save.
Best has not given up an extra base hit this season. He had a season high seven strikeouts in relief against Troy in game two and has only allowed two inherited runners to score since the first weekend and both were because of errors.
For the season, he is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 16.2 innings pitched with five saves. He has now had a hand in the decision in seven of his 10 appearances this season. He has given up one unearned run on six hits, one walk and 21 strikeouts and opponents are hitting .109 against him. Left-handed batters are hitting .100 (2/20) and right-handed batters are hitting .114 (4/35) against him.
In five games last week, Kulbacki was 14-for-19 (.737) with two doubles, four homers and 12 RBIs while walking once and being hit twice. He had four hits in three of the five games. He was hit in the head by a pitch in his first at bat in game two of the Delaware series - after going 4-for-4 with two homers and five RBIs in the opener - and ended up going 1- for-4, but the one hit drove in the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth, 6-5. He has only two at bats in the second game vs. VT and went 1-of-2 before leaving the game. The Hershey, Pa., native leads the Colonial Athletic Association in batting average, RBIs (39), homers (11), slugging percentage (1.107), on-base percentage (.604), total bases (83) and hit by pitch (10).
Morgan, a Lubbock native, turned in one of the best pitching performances by a Red Raider in school history in Saturday's 2-1 win over Texas. The redshirt freshman dominated the then 16th-ranked Longhorns by turning in his first career complete game that included 15 strikeouts and no walks. Morgan became the first Tech pitcher to throw a complete game this season and in the process he set a new Tech record for the most strikeouts in a Big 12 game.
Over nine innings of work, Morgan allowed just one run and scattered four hits en route to his fourth win of the season. His 15 strikeouts pushed his season total to 60 and that currently leads all Big 12 pitchers so far this season. The 15 strikeouts were the most by a Tech pitcher since Monty Ward struckout 18 against Lindenwood in 1998 and the most thrown against at Texas team since Baylor struckout 16 Longhorn hitters on April 9, 1999.
With this week's honor, Best and Morgan automatically are named to the watch list for Roger Clemens Award, given to the national collegiate pitcher of the year, sponsored by the Greater Houston Baseball Organization.
The Fort Worth-based Pro-Line Cap Co. supplies the official cap to more than 100 Division I college teams. This is the first season Pro-Line has sponsored the NCBWA's Players of the Week. The sponsorship provides for plaques to be awarded to each of the weekly winners and other promotional consideration. For more information about Pro-Line, visit their Web site at www.prolinecap.com.
Founded in 1962, the NCBWA is dedicated to the advancement of college baseball. Membership is open to writers, broadcasters and publicists of the sport. For more information about the NCBWA, visit the association's official Web site, www.ncbwa.com.
