FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 31, 2008
SLIAC ANNOUNCES ATHLETES OF THE WEEK FOR MARCH 24-30

ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) has announced the Athletes of the Week for the week of March 24-30.

BASEBALL-HITTER
Webster University’s Andrew Fuiten, a junior from Decatur, Ill (Lincoln College), has been named the SLIAC Baseball Hitter of the Week for the week of March 24-30.

Fuiten, a shortstop/left fielder, hit .706 (12-for-17) with 13 runs scored, 14 runs batted in, four home runs and two doubles in five games during the week.  He had five multi-RBI and multi-run scored performances and four multi-hit games.  He had three hits (including two home runs), five RBI and three runs scored in the Gorloks’ 12-3 win over Fontbonne.  Fuiten had three hits and scored three times in the second game of the Fontbonne doubleheader, scoring the game winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning.  He was a perfect 5-for-5 with five runs scored and five RBI in Webster’s doubleheader sweep of Lincoln Christian.

BASEBALL-PITCHER
Eureka College’s Clay McConkey, a sophomore from Fairview, Ill. (Spoon River Valley), has been named the SLIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week for the week of March 24-30.

McConkey went 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA, 18 strikeouts and two complete games during the week.  He struck out 13 batters, walked just two and allowed two earned runs (6 total) on seven hits in a 17-6 win over MacMurray.  McConkey saved his best performance for last, with a one-hit shutout in a 1-0 win over Maryville in which he struck out five.  He held Maryville hitless for 6.2 innings and did not allow a runner past first base en route to his first career shutout.  Eureka won the final five games of the week for the Red Devils first five-game win streak in over nine years.

SOFTBALL-HITTER
Eureka College’s Molly Wolber, a freshman from Rock Falls, Ill., has been named the SLIAC Softball Hitter of the Week for the week of March 24-30.

Wolber, an outfielder, hit .462 (6-for-13) with two doubles and three RBI during the week.  After a double in four at-bats in the opener of the doubleheader against MacMurray, she went 3-for-4 with the first three-RBI game for Eureka this season in the nightcap as the Red Devils swept MacMurray, 8-1 and 5-4.  Wolber had a two-run first inning double and drove in the game winning run with a bases loaded single in the bottom of the seventh inning.  She registered her second straight multi-hit game, and second of the season, in a 2-0 loss to Robert Morris-Springfield.

SOFTBALL-PITCHER
Eureka College’s Abby Segal, a junior from Peoria, Ill. (Limestone), has been named the SLIAC Softball Pitcher of the Week for the week of March 24-30.

Segal posted a 3-0 record with two complete games and 17 strikeouts while not allowing an earned run and surrendering just nine hits in 19.1 innings over three games.  She threw a complete game one-hitter with eight strikeouts and allowing one unearned run in Eureka’s 8-1 win over MacMurray, holding the Highlanders hitless with runners on base.  Segal pitched 5.1 innings of three-hit relief to earn the win in the Red Devils 5-4 win in the nightcap over MacMurray.  She struck out six, surrendered two unearned runs and retired the final nine batters of the game.  Segal won her fourth straight decision with a complete game, five-hit shutout in a 1-0 win over St. Mary’s of the Woods.  That victory marked the 300th for Red Devil head coach Karen Sweitzer.

MEN’S TENNIS
Maryville University’s Matt Schlueter, a senior from Jefferson City, Mo. (Helias), has been named the SLIAC Men’s Tennis Player of the Week for the week of March 24-30.

Schlueter went 3-0 at both #1 singles and #1 doubles.  He lost just three games in three the three matches that included a 6-0, 6-0 win over Greenville, a 6-1, 6-1 win over Westminster and a 6-0, 6-1 win over Eureka.  Schlueter teamed with Tyler Tate to post doubles wins by scores of 8-2, 8-5 and 8-1 over Greenville, Westminster and Eureka, respectively.

WOMEN’S TENNIS
Webster University’s Laila Wessel, a senior from Evansville, Ind. (F.J. Reitz), has been named the SLIAC Women’s Tennis Player of the Week for the week of March 24-30.

Wessel went 2-1 at both #1 singles and #1 doubles.  In singles, she defeated Westminster’s Abby Stuck in three sets (3-6, 6-2, 6-2) and Eureka’s Alyssa Wetterauer (6-4, 6-1).  Wessel teamed with Alexandra Meyer to post an 8-3 win over Westminster (Stuck/Dori Craighead) and an 8-2 win over Eureka (Wetterauer/Ebony Thomas).  Webster defeated Westminster, 6-3, and Eureka, 8-1.  Both of Wessel’s losses came in the Gorloks’ 9-0 loss to Concordia (Neb.).

GOLF
Maryville University’s Nick Profancik, a junior from Centralia, Ill., has been named the SLIAC Golfer of the Week for the week of March 24-30.

Profancik finished third in the 96-golfer Prairie Fire Classic with a 2-over-par 73-73—146, two strokes behind the Tournament Medalist.  He led Maryville to a seventh-place finish in the 15-team field (317-320—637).