VIDEO: Vince Apicella Interview

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Junior lefthanded pitcher Vince Apicella (Dillsburg, Pa.) was named the South Atlantic Conference's Pitcher of the Week Tuesday afternoon becoming the first Eagle hurler since Chris Armstrong on February 12, 2013 to garner the accolade.

"I think it means more to the team than anything," Apicella said. "With having the weekend we did last weekend was huge. We, the pitching staff, strive to put up zeros on the board. By doing that, it's a really big improvement."

Apicella delivered his first career complete game by yielding three hits with two walks while tallying a career-high 13 strikeouts, besting his previous high of seven in a 1-0 win over Catawba on Saturday that sealed a series victory over the Indians for the first time since 2008.

The 13 punch outs were the most strikeouts recorded by an Eagle pitcher against a SAC opponent since Brett Hontz struck out 13 on March 21, 2008 against Tusculum in a 7-2 Eagle victory.

"Vin was bulldog with great temperament throughout the game," head coach Tom Griffin said after Apicella's start on Saturday. "He was able to throw his breaking ball. I thought he kept hitters off balance. He expanded the strike zone, not only in-and-out, but up-and-down which is the key to pitching."

The southpaw had thrown a complete game seven-inning game and his previous career-high in innings was 7.1 versus Brevard on February 7, 2014.

"Confidence-wise it was huge for us to come out in those games over the weekend," Apicella said. "Defensive-wise, we had great catches in the outfield and the pitching staff gets all fired up seeing that."

Apicella goes back to work Saturday afternoon against Brevard as part of a three-game set with the Tornados beginning Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. from Brevard, N.C.

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