McHugh Named NE-10 Player of the Week - Stonehill

Pembroke, Mass., native earns weekly honor for first time this season

EASTON, Mass. (May 9, 2011) – Stonehill College junior catcher/outfielder Rich McHugh (Pembroke, Mass./Thayer Academy) has been named the Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Week for baseball by the league office today.

McHugh, who earns Player of the Week honors for the first time this season (2^nd career), batted .500 (7-for-14) in a 2-2 week for Stonehill as the Skyhawks earned a spot in the postseason for the second-straight year. He also scored five runs, had a double, home run and six RBI, slugged .786 and drew four walks to aid a .611 on-base percentage for the week. McHugh was error free in 16 chances while splitting his time between catcher and leftfield, throwing out both potential base stealers while he was behind the plate.

McHugh was a combined 6-for-8 with a home run, six RBI and five runs scored to lead Stonehill to a doubleheader sweep of The College of Saint Rose on Friday. He was 3-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and five RBI in the Skyhawks 17-7 win in game one. McHugh also concluded the week by hitting 1-for-3 with a walk at Southern New Hampshire University on Sunday.

McHugh has started all 43 games (out of 47 total for Stonehill) in his junior season and is second on the team with a .324 (47-for-145) batting average, 30 runs scored, seven doubles, two triples, five home runs and 30 RBI. He leads the Skyhawks with a .462 batting average, 35 walks, a .503 slugging percentage and is error free in 254 chances while seeing time at both catcher and outfield. He leads the team with 18 multiple hit games, while also notching five multi-RBI outings.

McHugh has played 78 games, starting 75, in his two seasons at Stonehill since transferring from Southern Connecticut State University. He has hit .323 (84-for-260) with 50 runs scored, 15 doubles, four triples, five home runs and 47 RBI with the Skyhawks. As a freshman at Southern Connecticut, McHugh started ten of the 13 games he played and hit .268 (11-41) with three runs scored, four doubles, a home run and RBI. He has also committed just two errors in 429 chances (.995) over his three year collegiate career and was a second team All-Northeast-10 selection as a sophomore.

Stonehill (30-17, 13-12 NE-10), ranked seventh in the most recent National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and NCAA Division II East Regional rankings, will open defense of its Northeast-10 Tournament Championship on Wednesday night when the sixth-seeded Skyhawks visit third-seeded Franklin Pierce University for first round action of the tournament at 6 p.m.