April 18, 2008
Four Patriot League student-athletes were honored by the ECAC for their performances last week. In the sport of baseball Army's Chris Simmons was named the ECAC Player of the Week, while Bucknell's Mathew Wilson was tabbed the ECAC Pitcher of the Week. Two men's outdoor track and field athletes were honored as well with American's Steve Hallinan and Navy's Darryl Hunter being named the ECAC Track Athlete and Field Athlete of the Week, respectively.
Simmons led Army to a perfect 5-0 record last week, including wins in the first three games of a series at rival Navy, by hitting .533 with one home run, five runs scored and six RBI while playing in four of the victories. He batted .636 (7-for-11) in the games against the Midshipmen, recording a pair of three-hit performances and all of his RBI for the week. Simmons posted a 1.000 slugging percentage in the series as he added a triple with his home run, which came in the first contest of the weekend that Army won, 14-3. He notched a .933 slugging percentage for the week, and has hit safely in seven consecutive games.
Wilson turned in a masterful performance in his first outing since March 15, tying a Bucknell record with his fourth career shutout and setting a personal high with 11 strikeouts for a seven-inning complete game in a 3-0 win over Holy Cross. Wilson scattered four hits, all singles, and walked one batter. He allowed just two hits after the first inning, and the first six outs were recorded by strikeout.
The Patriot League has now taken home five ECAC weekly honors this season. Previous winners were Army's Cole White, Bucknell's John Avanzino and Navy's Thomas Hamilton.
Hallinan recorded an NCAA East Regional Qualifying mark in the 1,500m invitational race at the Bucknell Outdoor Classic last weekend. Hallinan ran the race in a time of 3:44.28, which is over three seconds faster than the NCAA Regional mark.
Hunter posted a dominant performance in Navy's Star Meet victory over Army last week. The senior, who had already qualified for the NCAA East Regional Meet in the shot put, once again surpassed the NCAA Regional standard with a toss of 17.38m. He also notched a spot in the NCAA East Regional Meet with a distance of 51.88m in the discus throw.
In total, the Patriot League has earned an ECAC weekly award seven times this season. Lafayette's Ashley Harbin is a two-time honoree, while Army's Meghan Curran, Lafayette's Janica Austin and Navy's Paul Harris also won once. Hallinan and Hunter were honored for the first time this year on Thursday.