Date Posted: 5/8/2006

MACON, Ga. – ETSU’s Blake Church and UNF’s Jeremy Papelbon picked up A-Sun Player and Pitcher of the Week honors after leading their team’s to important weekend sweeps in Atlantic Sun Conference Play.

Church dominated ETSU’s three-game sweep of Stetson offensively. The senior first baseman batted .529 for the week including a 6-for-11 effort versus the Hatters. Church went 3-for-3 in Friday’s series opener against Stetson, belting two triples and driving in three runs. On Saturday, Church scored a pair of runs including one in the decisive seventh inning. His solo home run in the eighth inning of Sunday’s series finale tied the game at six, and moved him past Will Edwards for third place in the all-time ETSU career home runs list with 29. The Bucs would go on to clinch the sweep after plating the game-winning run in the 11th inning. On the season, the Roswell, Ga., native has hit 11 bombs, nine of them coming at the start of an inning. His solo shot also moved him within one RBI of Caleb Moore’s career RBI record of 170. The Bucs currently hold a 2.0 game lead over four teams battling for the last two spots at the upcoming 2006 A-Sun Championship presented by Progress Energy. Church majors in Business.

Papelbon recorded his first complete game of the season to guide the Ospreys to 10-4 win over Gardner-Webb on Saturday. After giving up two hits and one run in the first inning, the southpaw retired 21 straight batters spanning from the final out of the first inning to two-thirds of the way through the eighth. The Jacksonville native allowed just three hits until the ninth inning and surrendered only two earned runs in the game. Papelbon struck out 10 batters and did not issue a walk in the game. He needed just 119 pitches to complete the gem and 91 of them went for strikes. During the series, the UNF pitching staff limited Gardner-Webb to just a .165 opponent batting average and fanned 21 batters. With the wins, the Ospreys kept their hopes alive to capture the A-Sun regular season title, trailing league leader Jacksonville by 1.5 games heading into their final three conference games of the year at home versus Lipscomb. Papelbon majors in Business Management.

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
• Matt Oxendine, UNF (Sr. – SS – Wellington, Fla. – Sports Management & Leadership Major)
Batted .571 in leadoff spot and set UNF record for games played

• Chris Johnson, Stetson (So. – 1B – Fort Myers, Fla. – Sports Management Major)
Slugged 1.286 in three game series at ETSU

• Daniel Murphy, Jacksonville (Jr. – 3B – Jacksonville, Fla. – Communications Major)
Extended hitting streak to career-high 13 games and hit .553 in 3-1 week for JU

• Steven Calicutt, ETSU (Sr. – LHP – Spartanburg, S.C. – Communications Major)
Went 1-0 with two saves in three games versus Stetson

Related Links:
 • A-Sun Championship Presented by Progress Energy