Francis Marion University senior left-hander Rijnaldo Euson has been named the Conference Carolina Baseball Pitcher of the Week presented by ConferenceCarolinasTravel.com for the week of March 31-April 6.

Euson, a native of Haines City, Fla., pitched a one-hit shutout during the Patriots' 3-0 win over Emmanuel University (Ga.) on Saturday.  The southpaw allowed only one baserunner, a two-out single in the third inning, and needed only 72 pitches to complete the seven-inning contest.  He struck out seven.

For the season, he is second in NCAA Division II in victories with a 9-1 mark and owns a 2.65 earned run average.  He also ranks among the national leaders with four complete games in 10 starts, and ranks third in strikeouts (83), 15th in fewest hits allowed per nine innings (5.93), and 29th in WHIP (0.98).

Francis Marion has won its last 11 games and moved up several spots in two of this week's national polls.  The 30-9 Patriots are now 18th in the D2 Baseball Top 25 poll and 24th in the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Top 30 poll.

FMU plays at USC Aiken on Tuesday (April 8) at 6 p.m. before playing a Conference Carolinas road series against local-rival UNC Pembroke this weekend.  The two squads will play a single game on Friday at 4 p.m. and a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m.  All three games will take place at the CarolinaBank Field in the Florence Sports Complex off Cashua Road, the site of many UNCP contests this season as its home field undergoes renovations.

Euson is an elementary education major and a product of Haines City Senior High School.


      Rijnaldo Euson