UNCW junior lefthander Mat Batts has been named Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) co-pitcher of the week after tossing his second straight complete game shutout in a 1-0 win at Old Dominion in last weekend’s series opener.
Batts, who shared honors with Kevin Ferguson of Northeastern, made big pitch after big pitch in shutting down the Monarchs. He allowed three hits and walked two while striking out a season-high eight batters. ODU managed to put a runner on third base just twice and did not manage a hit until the bottom of the fifth.
He became the first UNCW pitcher to toss back-to-back complete game shutouts since Jake Mullis in 2001. It was his second consecutive pitching honor after earning the accolade on March 25. Batts is 4-1 with a 2.47 ERA for the season.
The Seahawks moved into first place in the CAA after a three-game sweep at ODU. Sophomore Corey Dick batted .444 (8-18) with two doubles, a homer and four RBIs for the week. Michael Bass extended his hitting streak to 24 games, which is the second longest in school history behind Magnus Pilegard (26).
He’s batting .429 with 31 runs scored during the streak. Hunter Ridge drove in eight runs last week and needs to seven RBIs to pass Jonathan Batts (182) for the top spot in UNCW history. The Seahawks’ pitching staff allowed just one earned run in the ODU series. Jordan Ramsey lowered his ERA to 0.86 in league play.
UNCW has five games this week against College of Charleston (S.C.) on Tuesday, April 2, and on Wednesday against top-ranked University of North Carolina. Both games are set to start at 6 p.m. at Brooks Field.
The Seahawks will play a split three-game weekend series with Davidson as UNCW opens the non-conference set with a 6 p.m. start at Davidson on Friday, April 4, before returning to Brooks Field for a 4 p.m. start Saturday and a 2 p.m. first-pitch on Sunday.
Sunday’s game will be a benefit game for the Access of Wilmington Miracle League. The Seahawks will don special jerseys that will be auctioned off during the game. The auction will benefit the Miracle League.
