CHICAGO (NBCWA) – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released its National Hitter and Pitcher of the Week awards for the period ending Feb. 16.

Metcalf

Rierson

Kansas sophomore third basemen Travis Metcalf (Wamego, Kan.) was named the National Hitter of the Week, while Arizona junior RHP Sean Rierson (Phoenix, Ariz.) won the Pitcher of the Week honors. The NCBWA Board reviews candidates from each Division I Conference each week and names winners each Tuesday throughout the season.

Metcalf becomes the second Kansas player to win the award in three weeks after helping the Jayhawks to a three-game sweep at No. 6 LSU this past weekend. Metcalf carried the Jayhawks offensively in all four games last week, powering three home runs, including one in each of the last two wins against No. 6 LSU. He led Kansas in hits (10), batting average (.588), home runs (3) and RBI (10) this past week, recording at least two base hits in all four games, including a pair of three-hit games vs. LSU. Metcalf's first hit of the season was a towering three-run blast to left field which gave the Jayhawks a four-run lead against Western Illinois on Feb. 12. He also followed Casey Spanish's blast against LSU with a homer of his own, giving KU back-to-back home runs for the first time since May of 2000.

Rierson became the first Wildcat pitcher in nearly 20 years to toss a two-hit, complete-game this weekend at UC Irvine. He surrendered just a pair of infield singles to UCI en route to the 6-0 shutout win over the Anteaters. Rierson needed only 104 pitches to pick up his first win of the season, as he struck out five and did not walk a batter in the game. Former Arizona great Joe Magrane was the last pitcher to go the distance on a two-hitter in a 10-1 win over UNLV on Feb. 4, 1984.