Turner and Long pick up first career PL honors
Posted: 03/18/2013 | Last updated: March 18, 2013 at 02:56 PM
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh senior outfielder Casey Turner and freshman pitcher Kevin Long earned the Patriot League Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week awards, respectively, it was announced Monday.
Turner earned his first career Patriot League Player of the Week award after batting .566 with six runs scored and five RBI in four road games last week. He drew a walk in each of Lehigh’s four games this week, finishing with a .609 on-base percentage and a .667 slugging percentage. In Friday’s 9-8 extra inning loss to Mount St. Mary’s, Turner went 4-for-5 at the plate. He followed up with a 2-for-5 performance in the Mountain Hawks 10-9 win against the Mountaineers the following day, hitting the game-winning RBI single in the 12th inning. He is second on the Mountain Hawks with a batting average of .355 and 10 RBI.
Long entered Friday’s game against Mount St. Mary’s with Lehigh trailing 7-1 with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. He kept the Brown and White in the contest by striking out a career-high eight batters while allowing four hits and two earned runs in 5.2 innings on the mound. Long is in the league’s top five in ERA (3.38), opponent batting average (.236) and strikeouts (18). He is Lehigh’s first Rookie of the Week since 2011.
The Mountain Hawks beat UNC-Greensboro, fell to North Carolina A&T and split a series against Mount St. Mary’s this week. Lehigh went 5-2 on its seven-game road trip to improve its overall record to 10-6.
The Brown and White’s home opener against Temple has been moved up to Wednesday due to the threat of bad weather. First pitch from Goodman Campus is slated for 3 p.m. The Mountain Hawks will also host LIU Brooklyn for a 3 p.m. game on Friday.
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