Walker Powell of Southern Miss wins C-USA Co-Pitcher of the Week honors

HATTIESBUG, MS (WLBT) - Southern Miss junior right-hander Walker Powell earned Conference USA Co-Pitcher of the Week honors on the strength of a complete-game effort against Middle Tennessee last Friday night.

Powell registered a career-high 10 strikeouts in posting his third complete game of the season. In 10 assignments this season, Powell has put together a team-best six quality starts as he limited the Blue Raiders to just six hits and no walks.

The only run he allowed was a solo homer in the second. He retired 10 in a row at one point – retiring the Blue Raiders in order five times - and did not let more than one run reach base in an inning until he gave up three-straight singles with one out in the ninth. He followed that with two strikeouts to end the game. He is now 5-2 on the season with a 3.02 ERA.

This is Powell’s third C-USA Pitcher of the Week award this season and third of his career. He shared the award with Rice right-hander Matt Canterino. Charlotte catcher Harris Yett won the Hitter of the Week award.

In addition, Hunter Slater earned recognition by being named one of the Collegiate Baseball National Players of the Week.

Slated tied a pair of school records with three home runs and eight RBI against New Orleans (4/24). He was the first Golden Eagles to hit three home runs since the 2006 season as it was only the ninth time it had been done overall. The eight-RBI performance had only been achieved twice before in school history.

He added a pair of two-hit games in the Middle Tennessee series. Slater capped a five-run sixth in the MT opener with a RBI double and collected a run-scoring single in the middle game of the series, as the Golden Eagles plated six runs in the seventh to put the game out of reach.

The senior from Mobile, Ala., finished the month of April with four doubles, five home runs and 21 RBI. Slater also leads the team with 11 multi-hit contests (11, 2-hit; 9, 3-hit).

The Golden Eagles, who returned to the national rankings with a No. 29 spot by Collegiate Baseball, next play, Wednesday, May 1, when they entertain in-state rival Ole Miss with a 6 p.m. contest.