Printer-Friendly Format     E-mail this article     Junior David Phelps.

 
A.J. Pollock, David Phelps Earn Irish Sweep Of BIG EAST Honors

Pollock named Player of the Week for second straight week and Phelps earned Pitcher of the Week for first time in 2008.

April 14, 2008

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Notre Dame sophomore outfielder A.J. Pollock (Hebron, Conn.) and junior pitcher David Phelps (Hazelwood, Mo.) were named BIG EAST Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, on Monday after leading the Irish to a 5-0 week, including a conference series sweep of Villanova. Pollock was named conference player of the week for the second straight week, while Phelps earned the honor for the first time in 2008 (was named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week on two different occasions in 2007).

Pollock batted .579 (11-for-19) with eight runs scored, one stolen base, two doubles, two triples, a home run and five RBI. He also added a sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly. Pollock also recorded 10 putouts without an error. Pollock registered four multi-hit games, including a trio of three-hit efforts. He went 5-for-12 with four runs scored, three RBI, a double, triple, stolen base and couple walks in the three victories over the Wildcats (the third BIG EAST sweep of the season for Notre Dame). He leads the Irish with 16 multi-hit games, including nine three-hit games and three four-hit games.

Pollock also leads the Irish in batting average (.410), hits (50), RBI (27, tied), stolen bases (13) and triples (3). He is hitting a robust .538 over his last 10 games and .456 over the last 15. In fact, since opening the season 3-for-his-first-17 (over a span of four games), Pollock is hitting .448 (47-for-105).

Phelps came within one out of his first complete game of the season and sixth of his career in a dominating effort against Villanova on Apr. 11. He did not allow an earned run in 8.2 innings to lead the Irish to a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the Wildcats. Phelps struckout eight and walked two. He limited Villanova to just five hits and induced 12 ground ball outs. After allowing an unearned run in the bottom of the second inning, Phelps allowed just a trio of Wildcats into scoring position the rest of the afternoon and picked up his fourth victory of the season.

The Irish will return to action this week at Frank Eck Stadium with a non-conference tilt against Toledo on Tuesday (6:05 p.m.) before traveling to U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, for a game against Northern Illinois on Wednesday. First-pitch with the Huskies is slated for 7:05 p.m. CT. Each can be heard live on ESPN Radio 1490 AM and UND.com.

-- ND --