University of Tennessee Athletics
Arencibia Named SEC Baseball Player of the Week
May 09, 2005 | Baseball
May 9, 2005
Tennessee's J.P. Arencibia was named the SEC Baseball Player of the Week following a gutsy three-game performance against South Carolina last weekend. The Miami, Fla., native battled through a triple-digit fever to lead the Volunteers to a series sweep of the Gamecocks and first place in the SEC standings.
During the series, Arencibia led the Vols with a .462 batting average, six hits, one home run, five RBIs and a .692 slugging percentage. The Freshman All-America candidate leads the SEC with 59 RBIs this season.
He recorded 15 putouts behind the plate in Friday's 3-2 win and revved up UT's offense with a two-run homer. The home run was his 12th of season, which broke Todd Helton's Tennessee freshman home run record (Helton previously held the mark with 11 homers in 1993).
On Saturday, Arencibia reached base on a single in the bottom of the 10th inning and later scored the game-winning run on a series-clinching triple by junior third baseman Chase Headley. Arencibia again stepped up on Sunday, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and one run scored as Tennessee completed its first three-game SEC series sweep of the season.
Tennessee has now had three players earn the SEC's player or pitcher of the week award a total of four times this season. National pitcher of the year candidate Luke Hochevar was named the league's pitcher of the week Feb. 28 and March 21, while junior outfielder Eli Iorg was tabbed as the conference player of the week March 14.
VOLS SURGE INTO NATIONAL TOP 10
The Tennessee baseball team climbed as high as No. 9 in this week's national baseball rankings, which were released Monday afternoon. The new Baseball America rankings tabbed the Volunteers as the nation's No. 9 team, while Collegiate Baseball listed Tennessee at No. 10 in the country.
The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and ESPN/Sports Weekly also publish weekly polls that are updated every Monday evening.
