April 14, 2008

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Two days after capping one of the most impressive outings out of the Green Wave bullpen in 2008 on Saturday, Tulane University baseball standout Matt Petiton was named Conference USA Pitcher of the Week, the league announced Monday.

Petiton earned the distinction after posting a pair of wins, eight strikeouts and no walks while allowing just one run on two hits in 10.0 innings of work. For the week, he posted a 0.90 ERA and a .067 opponent batting average (2-for-30). The weekly honor is the first of Petiton's career and the third earned by a Tulane player this season as junior right-hander Shooter Hunt was named C-USA Pitcher of the Week on March 10 and March 17.

His first appearance of the week came during Tuesday's 8-1 win over Nicholls State. Petiton gave up a first-pitch home run in the top of the fourth, but finished the day allowing just the one run on two hits while posting a pair of strikeouts in 4.0 innings. After giving up the homer, Petiton retired the next five hitters he faced before giving up a two-out single in the fifth. From there, he faced the minimum over the next 2.1 no-hit innings to earn the victory.

On Saturday at Houston, he was even better. Petiton entered the ballgame with runners at first and second and nobody out in the fourth. After plunking the first batter he faced, Petiton retired the next 18 in a row - including six via strikeout, which tied his career best - to lead the Green Wave to a 7-5 victory. After the initial hit batsman, Petiton issued three consecutive fly-ball outs to thwart the rally in the fourth. He posted two strikeouts in the fifth, recorded a punchout in the sixth, got three straight fly balls in the seventh and capped a perfect eighth with another K.

Tulane head coach Rick Jones opted to let Petiton try and finish the game, and the transfer from Garden City, N.Y., responded by fanning reserve catcher Chris Wallace, getting a can-of-corn fly ball to right by Zak Presley and getting Blake Kelso to strike out swinging to put an exclamation point on the victory.

For the season, Petiton is 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA in eight games and 25.0 innings of work. He has 21 strikeouts and eight walks, and has held opponents to a .163 batting average.

Petiton and the Green Wave return to action on Tuesday, April 15, when they play host to Southeastern Louisiana in game three of the Senator's Cup at 6 p.m. at Green Field at Turchin Stadium. For ticket information, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at 504-861-WAVE or log onto the internet at www.TulaneGreenWave.com.