April 7, 2008

GREENSBORO, N.C. - NC State's Ryan Pond and Florida State's Ryan Strauss earned their first league recognition this season, as Pond has been tabbed Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Player of the Week while Strauss collects Pitcher of the Week accolades for their performances the week of April 1-6.

A senior from Chesapeake, Va., Pond paced the team with a .600 batting average and helped NC State finish the week 5-0. In the series sweep over Wake Forest, he hit .545 with six hits in 11 at-bats, five RBI, and a pair of doubles. Pond also turned in a stellar performance against Elon last Wednesday. The first baseman/outfielder recorded four hits, four RBI, three runs, one double and one home run as the Wolfpack shut out the Phoenix 12-0. He also had a pair of hits and RBI at No. 24 East Carolina last Tuesday. For the week, Pond collected 12 hits, six runs, 11 RBI, three doubles, two walks and one home run.

Strauss went 2-0 on the week, picking up a win over 13th-ranked Florida in Jacksonville last Tuesday and earning his second win in a relief appearance against Virginia over the weekend. In his first career start against the Gators, Strauss pitched seven solid innings giving up just one run on four hits. He walked a season-low one batter while striking out four. The senior right-handed hurler made just his second relief appearance of the season on Sunday against 14th-ranked Virginia. He fired three shutout innings without allowing a hit to close out the game and helped the No. 2 Seminoles complete the series sweep. The Tampa, Fla., native struck out six of the 10 batters that he faced to move his record to 4-0 on the year.