MOC baseball sweeps CVAC honors

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on March 17, 2004 1:59 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Mount Olive College swept both Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference weekly awards as Craig Hurba was named CVAC Player of the Week and Ryan Barham was named CVAC Pitcher of the Week, it was announced Tuesday. This week's awards mark the third time a Trojan has won Pitcher of the Week honors and the first time this season any CVAC team has swept both awards in the same week.

Hurba, a senior from Maryland, N.Y., hit .625 with four doubles, four home runs, 15 runs scored and 15 runs batted in. He opened the week with a 5-for-6, eight-RBI performance in the Trojans' 22-10 win over Shepherd. He also went 3-for-4 with two home runs, four runs scored and four RBI in a 15-11 CVAC win over Limestone. He hit safely in all seven games last week, including four multi-hit games. Nine of his 15 hits were for extra bases, giving him a 1.375 slugging percentage for the week. Hurba, who extended his hitting streak to eight, has hit safely in 26 of 29 games this season. He ranks in the top three in the CVAC in all three triple crown categories.

Barham, a freshman from Rolesville, tossed a no-hitter against Virginia State, the first-ever no-hitter by a Mount Olive pitcher since the school became a four-year college 18 years ago. Making only his second collegiate appearance, Barham came within one walk of a perfect game as he faced only one batter above the minimum. Barham retired the first 13 batters he faced before allowing a walk with one out in the top of the fifth, then retired the final eight batters. Barham recorded 11 strikeouts, the highest single-game strikeout total a Mount Olive pitcher this season.

Mount Olive is ranked No. 30 for the second consecutive week in this week's Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division II Poll.