CCU

Coastal Carolina's Rich Witten Named Big South Player of the Week

Witten Leads Coastal with 54 RBI; Top-Seeded Chants Face Charleston Southern Tuesday, May 22

       

Rich Witten

Rich Witten

May 21, 2012

CONWAY - For the second time this season, Coastal Carolina senior Rich Witten has been named the Big South Choice Hotels Player of the Week. Witten set a school record and drove in 10 as Coastal Carolina swept Charleston Southern to win its sixth straight Big South Championship.

Witten (Danville, Ky.) batted .490 (9-for-17) with three runs scored, while starting third base, first base and catcher in four games this week. He set a CCU record by going 6-for-6 in the first game at Charleston Southern, tying a career-high with five RBI in the contest. With 10 RBI for the week, he now has 54 for the season to tie for the Big South lead. Witten, who hit a double as part of his 6-for-6 performance, now has 48 doubles to rank seventh on the Coastal Carolina career list and his 146 career RBI ranks 12th.

In the first game of the week, a 9-8, 12-inning loss at College of Charleston, Witten was 2-for-7 with a home runs and four RBI, including two players scoring – one by RBI and one by error – in the seventh on one of his hits to tie the game at 8-8.

In his record-setting performance at Charleston Southern, he had an RBI double in the first inning, a single in the third, an RBI single in the fourth, two singles and two RBI in the sixth and an RBI single in the eighth. In game two of the doubleheader Friday, he moved to catcher. While he was 0-for-3, Witten was walked twice and he scored once. In the regular-season finale, Witten went 1-for-4, providing an RBI single in the sixth inning in the 2-0 win.

Witten was also the Big South Player of the Week on April 16 as he had nine hits, including a walk-off home run, and six RBI as Coastal swept VMI to take over and never relinquished first place in the Big South. Witten additionally was selected a CollegeBaeball360.com Primetime Performer on May 2 as CCU won at Clemson and had a series sweep at Liberty. In those four games, he had the game-winning hit in the first three games, going 2-for-2 with an RBI and three walks (two intentionally) in the last game.