April 16, 2012

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Rhode Island’s Dan Haverstick and Kyle Mullen of Saint Joseph’s have been named the Atlantic 10 Conference Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, the league office announced on Monday. Charlotte’s LeLand Clemmons and Conor LeBlanc of Massachusetts were also honored as the Conference’s Co-Rookies of the Week. The four student-athletes were honored for games played during the week of April 9-16.

Haverstick had nine hits – including his first home run of the season – in a perfect 5-0 week for the Rams. The Marlton, N.J., native finished the week with a .600 average, .667 on-base percentage and a 1.000 slugging percentage. He also drove in seven runs and scored five. Haverstick batted .750 (6-8) with a double, triple and home run, four runs and four RBI in the series at St. Bonaventure.

Mullen dazzled once again for the Hawks, tossing a complete game shutout in the series opener against Massachusetts, marking the third shutout of his career. The righthander needed just 84 pitches to dispatch the Minutemen, facing only two batters over the minimum, and did not allow a runner past second base. During the outing, Mullen allowed five hits and one walk while fanning six. Dating back to last season, SJU has won eight consecutive Atlantic 10 conference series openers; seven of them have been started by Mullen. The Hawks are 9-2 in Atlantic 10 play over the last two seasons when Mullen starts.

After drawing a walk in a pinch-hit appearance against ACC foe Wake Forest on April 11, Clemmons stepped into the starting lineup to help Charlotte to a pair of wins to take their first A-10 series of the season at Temple. Clemmons entered the weekend with five hits this season and he tallied six for the series, including a career-high three on Saturday and he scored a career-high three runs in the Friday win. Clemmons had two triples and two doubles, stealing four bases in as many tries and drove in four runs, the most of any player in the series. He started the series 5-for-5, reaching base in his first eight plate appearances over the first two games. He reached base 12 times total in the series, most of any player from either team. He raised his season average from .119 to .212 in the series.

LeBlanc pitched Massachusetts into the Beanpot Tournament Championship game, throwing 7.2 innings in what was just his second career start to beat Northeastern, 4-1, in the semifinal on April 10. He allowed just three hits and one earned run, while striking out four.

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