03/31/2001 – Turks Tidbits
Written By Casey Zeiders James Madison University Sports Management Intern
HARRISONBURG- Big news Turks fans! As most of you know, from the previous articles this season, our own Dodson McPherson has been putting up incredible numbers all year for the Wingate University Bulldogs. His performance is finally being rewarded as league officials named McPherson the South Atlantic Conference Player of the Week.
Before this week McPherson was still having a great season, but now he finally has the attention of the national media. The well-deserving award came in a five game stretch where he hit three homeruns, including a grand slam and a game winner, as well as knocking in 12 runs and scoring 10 times. In the five games played this week, McPherson went 14-24, a .583 average, and scored at least one run in each game.
In two games against West Virginia State, McPherson went 8-12 with nine RBIs and seven runs scored. In the first game, he missed hitting for the cycle by only a double and helped the Bulldogs to a 15-14 victory. In the second, he hit his fourth grand slam of the season in route to an amazing 33-17 victory.
The next three games for Wingate were against Lincoln Memorial University. In that series McPherson continued to put up impressive numbers. He went 6-12 with three RBIs and two runs scored. He also hit his seventh homerun and his tenth double of the season. McPherson’s homerun was his most essential hit of the series. With two outs in the top of the 9th and two men on, McPherson smashed a three-run homerun to give Wingate a 7-5 victory.
For the season, McPherson is now batting .389, which is good enough for fifth in the South Atlantic Conference. He is currently ranked first in his conference in RBIs (46), Total Bases (100), and triples (4). He is also tied for first in the SAC with 61 hits. His 40 hits and seven homeruns rank second and third, respectively. McPherson has also gone 4-4 on stolen base opportunities and has drawn 19 walks this season.
Turks players have now won Player of the Week honors in consecutive weeks; Eric Meyerchick won the Grand Lakes Valley Pitcher of the Week last week. It’s shaping up to be an exciting summer for Turks Baseball!
Go Turks!!