CCU

Coastal Carolina's Bowman and Meo Honored by Big South

Bowman was named Co-Player of the Week and Meo Pitcher of the Week

       

Daniel Bowman was named Big South Co-Player of the Week as all five of his hits went for extra bases.

Daniel Bowman was named Big South Co-Player of the Week as all five of his hits went for extra bases.

April 4, 2011

CONWAY - Coastal Carolina juniors Daniel Bowman (Bridgewater, Va.) and Anthony Meo (Cranston, R.I.) were each honored by the Big South for their exceptional play in a weekend sweep over Liberty. Bowman was the league's Choice Hotels Co-Player of the Week with Winthrop's Adam Gliebe, while Meo was named The Crons Brand Big South Pitcher of the Week.

Bowman was 5-for-11 (.455), with all of his hits going for extra bases, and had nine RBI, including a career-best six on Monday in the three-game sweep over Liberty. Gliebe batted .533 (8-15) with six runs scored, seven RBI, one triple and two home runs in four wins last week.

Bowman helped Coastal beat Liberty in about every way possible offensively, from "small ball" to the "long ball." He had a 1.364 slugging percentage with two doubles, a triple and two home runs. On Friday, he was 2-for-4 and, in addition to his six RBI in the 17-1 win, he scored twice. To start on Friday, Bowman gave Coastal a 1-0 lead (as part of a four-run third) with a safety squeeze bunt. In the fourth inning, he hit a three-run home run and later capped the game with a two-run double. On Saturday, Bowman was just 1-for-4, but he hit a solo home run in the sixth to tie the game at 4-4. Then, in the ninth, and after Liberty intentionally walked Tommy La Stella to load the bases, Bowman delivered a game-winning sacrifice fly to deep center. On Sunday, he went 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored. First, he hit a two-out triple, but was stranded. Then, in the seventh and Coastal down 4-2, he delivered an RBI double and later scored the tying run.

For good measure but not factoring into the nomination, Bowman was 1-for-3 with a walk in an exhibition game with the defending American League champion Texas Rangers during the midweek.

Bowman raised his season batting average 24 points to .243 this past week and, with 33 career home runs, moved to fifth on the Coastal Carolina all-time list.

Meo led a triumvirate of impressive Chanticleer performances on the mound, edging teammates Matt Rein and Matt Laney for the nomination. Meo perhaps his most complete outing of the 2011 season on Friday, as he pitched 7.0 innings of scoreless ball in picking up the win against Liberty. He held the Flames to just two hits on the night (.087 batting average) and two walks while fanning eight. Meo pitched himself out of two bases loaded jams, had three 1-2-3 innings and retired the final seven batters he faced.

Meo improved to 3-2 on the season and saw his ERA fall to 2.93. (In three of his seven starts, Coastal's offense provided no runs twice and one run once.) Meo has struck out 40 in 36.1 innings this season with just eight walks and an opponent batting average of .224. In Big South play for his career, Meo improves to 15-2 (5-2 in 2009, 8-0 in 2010 and 2-0 in 2011) with a 2.02 ERA. In 107 career conference innings, Meo has allowed just 24 earned runs and 37 walks while striking out 98.

This marks the first career Player of the Week honor for Bowman and Meo's second career Big South Pitcher of the Week honor. This marks the second consecutive week a Chanticleer has earned Big South Player of the Week honors, joining Tommy La Stella. Meo becomes the third Coastal pitcher to earn Big South Pitcher of the Week honors this season, joining Josh Conway and Jim Birmingham.

Coastal Carolina will travel to the Upstate to face intrastate rival Clemson Tuesday night (April 5) at 6:30 pm. The Chants trail the Tigers, 38-7, in the all-time series. Coastal snapped a seven=game losing skid to Clemson on March 31, 2010, with a 4-3 decision at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Rico Noel hit a solo home run in the 11th to give Coastal a 4-3 win.