McHugh Named NE-10 Player of the Week

Pembroke, Mass., native earns first career weekly award after leading Skyhawks to 5-0 week

EASTON, Mass. (March 22, 2010) – Stonehill College sophomore Rich McHugh (Pembroke, Mass./Thayer Academy) has been named the Northeast-10 Player of the Week for baseball by the Conference office this afternoon.

It marks the second-straight week a Stonehill player has earned the award as McHugh joins senior teammate Shane Franz (Cazenovia, N.Y./Cazenovia) who collected the award last week. McHugh led the Skyhawks to a 5-0 week on the diamond, including a 3-0 start to the NE-10 season, as he hit .526 (10-for-19) with six runs scored, two doubles and five RBI for the week. He slugged .632 and posted a .591 on-base percentage while extending his hitting streak to six games.

Sophomore Rich McHugh is the second-straight Stonehill baseball player to earn NE-10 Player of the Week honors. PHOTO BY: CSI: Photo.

McHugh started the week by batting 2-for-4 with an RBI in Wednesday’s 3-1 NE-10 opening win at Southern New Hampshire. He followed that up by going a combined 5-for-9 with two doubles, five runs scored and four RBI in Saturday’s NE-10 doubleheader sweep of Pace, hitting 4-for-6 with a pair of doubles, three runs scored and two RBI in the Skyhawks 10-9 game one victory in 11 innings. McHugh rounded out the week by batting a combined 3-for-6 with a run scored in Sunday’s non-conference sweep of Assumption College, ranked third in the East region at the time.

McHugh has played in nine of Stonehill’s 12 games this season, starting seven, and is hitting .462 (12-for-26) with six runs scored, a team-leading four doubles and seven RBI, while slugging .615 and posting a .533 on- base percentage. He has split his time between catcher and designated hitter for the Skyhawks and currently falls just four at bats shy of qualifying among team and NE-10 leaders for season averages. In addition to his six-game hitting streak, McHugh leads the team with three multiple-RBI games, while ranking third with four multi-hit games.

McHugh is in his first season with Stonehill after transferring from fellow NE-10 member Southern Connecticut State University. He played 13 games for the Owls as a freshman in 2009, starting ten, and hit .268 (11-for-41) with three runs scored, four doubles, a home run, stolen base and RBI.

Stonehill (7-5, 3-0 NE-10) returns to action when it opens a five-game home stand on Wednesday with a non-conference matchup with Merrimack College for its home opener at Lou Gorman Field at 3:30 p.m. The Skyhawks host Post University for a non-conference doubleheader on Friday at 1 p.m., before hosting nationally-ranked Adelphi University for an NE-10 doubleheader on Saturday at noon.