WSU's Murphy, UIC's Lane Tabbed for Weekly Awards

INDIANAPOLIS -- Wright State sophomore catcher Sean Murphy (Dayton, Ohio/Centerville) has been named the Horizon League Batter of the Week, while UIC junior left-hander Trevor Lane [North Bend, Wash./Mount Si (Lower Columbia CC)] is the League’s Pitcher of the Week, for the week of April 13-19. The accolade is the first of the season for both players.

Wright State (27-10, 13-4 Horizon) won the Joe Nuxhall Classic in midweek action before moving back into first place atop the Horizon League with a road sweep of Oakland. UIC (18-15-1, 13-5 Horizon) collected a series win at Valparaiso after dropping two midweek contests.

Murphy hit .400 (10-for-25) with seven RBIs. In a 7-3 win over Miami in the opening game of the Joe Nuxhall Classic on April 14 in Cincinnati, he drove in two runs and in the championship game the following night against the host Bearcats, Murphy tripled and knocked in three runs as WSU won, 15-9.

In the first game of a Horizon League weekend series at Oakland on Friday, Murphy had two hits, including a home run, and drove in two as Wright State rolled to a 17-5 victory. The sophomore followed up with four hits and two runs scored on Saturday and had two more hits in the finale on Sunday.

On the season, Murphy is hitting .331 with three home runs and 25 RBI and has scored 28 times. In league play, he is batting .373 with two home runs, 14 RBI and 11 runs scored.

Starting the rubber game of UIC’s series at Valparaiso, Lane twirled 6.2 innings, striking out nine Crusaders and scattering seven hits. Lane’s nine strikeouts set a new career high.

Across his last 28.2 innings pitched, Lane has allowed just two earned runs, running his record to 4-2 with a 3.63 ERA.

Wright State will host Dayton and Miami (Ohio) on Tuesday and Wednesday in midweek action, with both games carried on ESPN3. The Raiders will head to Youngstown State for their Horizon League series. UIC heads to Northwestern for its lone midweek game before welcoming Milwaukee to Curtis Granderson Stadium.

2015 Baseball Weekly Awards
Batter of the Week
Feb. 16:   Jeff Boehm, UIC (Sr., 1B)
Feb. 23:  Gabe Snyder, Wright State (Fr., OF)
March 2:  Ryan Fucci, Wright State (Jr., OF)
March 9:  Nate Palace, Valparaiso (So., 1B) 
March 16: Sam Koenig, Milwaukee (Sr., OF)
March 23: Cody Bohanek, UIC (So., SS)
March 30: Sam Koenig, Milwaukee (Sr., OF)
April 6:  Sam Koenig, Milwaukee (Sr., OF)
April 13:  Luke Meeteer, Milwaukee (Jr., OF)
April 20:  Sean Murphy, Wright State (So., C)

Pitcher of the Week
Feb. 16:   Brian Keller, Milwaukee (Jr., RHP)
Feb. 23:  Jesse Scholtens, Wright State (Jr., RHP)
March 2:  Justin Langley, Milwaukee (So., LHP)
March 9:  Joe Pavlovich, Milwaukee (Sr., RHP)
March 16: Jake Dahlberg, UIC (So., LHP)
March 23: Jesse Scholtens, Wright State (Jr., RHP)
March 30: Jake Dahlberg, UIC (So., LHP)
April 6:  Jason Hager, Oakland (Sr., LHP)
April 13:  Alex McIntosh, Milwaukee (Fr., LHP)
April 20:  Trevor Lane, UIC (Jr., LHP)

Horizon League Top Performers (April 13-19)

• Alex Larivee, Youngstown State (So., OF) - Had hits in four of YSU’s five games, adding a run or RBI in each of the Penguins’ games at Milwaukee.
• Robby Enslen, Oakland (Sr., OF) - Led Oakland with a .375 batting average in four games, reaching base 11 times in 21 plate appearances.
• Connor Philbin, UIC (Jr., OF) Going 10-for-20 on the week, Philbin scored five runs for the Flames and drove in a pair of runs.
• Daulton Varsho, Milwaukee (Fr., C) - Varsho drove in nine Panthers across six games, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs against Chicago State and besting it with a 4-RBI effort in Friday’s victory over Youngstown State.
• Andrew Elliott, Wright State (Sr., RHP) - Elliott closed the Nuxhall Classic by striking out two in a scoreless inning at Cincinnati before tossing three scoreless innings in Saturday’s win at Oakland and striking out five.
• Nate Green, Oakland (Fr., RHP) - Green did not allow an earned run in his start against Wright State, scattering eight hits across 7.0 innings.
• Brian Keller, Milwaukee (Jr., RHP) - Matched his career high with nine strikeouts in Milwaukee’s series opener against YSU, working 6.0 innings.