Monday, March 13, 2006

Macon, Ga. – Mercer’s Eric Renfroe and Belmont’s Carlo Testa provided crucial performances for their teams during the first full week of Atlantic Sun Conference play to earn the league’s weekly Player and Pitcher of the Week honors.

Renfroe had a huge week for Mercer (13-8, 3-0 A-Sun) going 9-for-15, hitting a cool .600 with a double, a home run, five runs scored, five RBI and two stolen bases.

Against second-ranked Florida State in midweek action, Renfroe was 3-for-4, with a double and two runs. Then in Mercer's sweep of Florida Atlantic, the junior homered in game one, finishing with a pair of hits. In game two, Renfroe extended his hitting streak with another base knock while adding a run and RBI. However, he saved his big day for the final game of the series, going 3-for-4 with a run and three RBI carrying the Bears to the sweep of preseason favorite Florida Atlantic. The Macon, Ga., native is riding a five-game hitting streak heading into this week’s action. Renfroe is majoring in Management.

Testa came out of no where to help the Bruins slow down Jacksonville’s incredibly hot start. Entering the weekend, the freshman southpaw had logged just 7.0 innings on the mound and made only one start. On Sunday, he pitched a complete game to earn Belmont's first conference win of the season. Testa allowed the first two Dolphins he faced to collect base hits, but did not allow another hit until the eighth inning in the 4-1 victory. The Tallmadge, Ohio native struck out seven during his outing. Testa threw 151 pitches to earn his first career win and help the Bruins avoid an opening weekend sweep. Testa has yet to determine a major.

The award is the first for both players.

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
• Josh Papelbon, UNF (Jr. – LHP – Jacksonville, Fla. – Business Management Major)
Became UNF’s career leader in saves after preserving 2-1 win over Campbell in series opener

• Justin Aughey, ETSU (Jr. – C – Davie, Fla. – Sports Management Major)
Drove in nine runs in four games including game-winning 9th inning HR at Lipscomb

• Bubba Blalock, Kennesaw State (So. – RHP – Fort Valley, Ga. – Chemistry Major)
Tossed complete game to hand KSU first-ever A-Sun victory in game two versus Gardner-Webb