Date Posted: 3/27/2006

MACON, Ga. – Stetson’s Chris Johnson earned his third career Player of the Week honor while Gardner-Webb’s Ben Campbell becomes the second freshman to claim Pitcher of the Week honors as announced by the league office.

Johnson batted .611 (11-for-18) on the week with two home runs, five RBI, and five runs scored. He also collected one double and recorded 18 total bases for a 1.000 slugging pct. in the Hatters' four games. The A-Sun Preseason Player of the Year went 2-for-5 with a run scored in Stetson's 7-6 upset win at #9 Florida on Tuesday night. Then in the series versus Lipscomb, the Fort Myers, Fla., native batted .692 (9-for-13) with two home runs and five RBI. He went 4-for-5 in Stetson's 9-0 win on Friday night, then collected three hits on Saturday and two more on Sunday to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. In the month of March, the sophomore slugger is batting .531 (34-for-64) with three home runs and 19 RBI and he has raised his season average to .398. In nine A-Sun games, Johnson is batting .615 with three home runs and 15 RBI. Johnson is majoring in Sports Management.

For the week, rookie southpaw Ben Campbell hurled 9.0 scoreless innings in a row, including a sparkling game in his A-Sun debut. The Taylors, S.C., native made the most of his first career A-Sun start, throwing 8.0 scoreless inning and allowing just three hits and only five runners to reach base (one due to a fielding error) to lift Gardner-Webb to a 1-0 win over Belmont Saturday – and a series sweep. The Blue Ridge (S.C.) High product fanned two in the game to improve his record to 2-2 on the season. Campbell held opposing batters to a frigid 4-of-28 effort (.143 BA) in two appearances on the week – including a hitless effort against left-handed hitters in those two games. Campbell also hurled an inning of scoreless relief at Western Carolina on Wednesday. Campbell’s efforts helped GWU to its first ever sweep of Belmont and a move to the top of the A-Sun standings for the first time in program history. Campbell has yet to declare a major.

The Atlantic Sun Conference hands out Player of the Week and Pitcher of the Week awards weekly during the 2006 baseball campaign.

The 11-member league headquartered in Macon, Ga., consists of Belmont, Campbell, ETSU, Florida Atlantic, Gardner-Webb, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Mercer, North Florida and Stetson.

OTHER TOP PERFORMERS
• Jeremy Papelbon, UNF (Jr. – LHP – Jacksonville, Fla. – Business Management Major)
Carried a perfect game into the sixth inning and fanned a career-high 13 batters in no-decision vs FAU

• Ryan Mitchell, Lipscomb (Sr. – 1B – Andalusia, Ala. – Biology Major)
Blasted game-winning homer in game two at Stetson; hit .667 in two games

• Ryan Perry, Kennesaw State (Sr. – SS/2B – Jonesboro, Ga. – Business Management Major)
Slugged .722 with three doubles and triple in series win over league-leading Mercer.