ROCK HILL, S.C. – For the first time in his career, sophomore outfielder Jordan Griffin was named the South Atlantic Conference's Player of the Week announced by the league on Tuesday.
The Ellerslie, Ga. native joins fellow sophomore Tyler Thompson (Gallatin, Tenn.) as Eagles to win the honor this season as Thompson won the first one this year. Carson-Newman last had two different position players win the weekly laurel during the 2017 campaign when Ryan Addington won on Feb. 14 and Paul Kirby earned it on April 18.
In three games last week, Griffin notched two-hit days in each contest leading the Eagles to wins over Belmont Abbey and Mars Hill as C-N outscored its foes 33-14 last week.
All told, the right-handed hitter went 6-for-11 at the plate with two home runs, six RBIs and four runs scored stealing a bag and drawing a walk.
The week began on Wednesday when the outfielder went 2-for-3 with a stolen base and two runs scored in a 7-3 win at Belmont Abbey.
He followed that performance by leading an offensive surge at Mars Hill on Saturday starting the doubleheader with a 2-for-4 effort going yard in the sixth inning. Griffin became the second C-N player this year to hit bombs in both games of a doubleheader later in the day going 2-for-4 with a double, a dinger while driving in five runs.
His efforts upped his batting average to .360 as he has four homers, 15 RBIs, 18 runs scored and has stolen five bases on the year. The sophomore has seven multi-hit efforts on the season driving in multiple runs four times. Riding a four-game hitting streak, he has matched the longest of his young career.
Leading the highest scoring offense in the SAC, Griffin is third in the league in on-base percentage (.522), tied for third in roundtrippers (4) while pacing the conference with 11 hit by pitches, a number that would pass teammate Micah Genter (Jasper, Tenn.) and his Division II school record of 14 for a single season.
As a club, C-N ranks in the top 10 nationally in walks, doubles, home runs, runs scored and stolen bases having posted double-digit run totals eight times on the year after doing so a total of seven times in 50 games in 2018.
Griffin leads his crew into action Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Young Harris before taking on Bluefield State on Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m. inside of the friendly confines of the Silver Diamond Baseball Complex.
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