Orion Kerkering was named the Pitcher of the Week and Roberto Peña Player of the Week.
IRVING, Texas (March 28, 2022) – After a 4-0 week on the diamond, the University of South Florida Bulls have swept the American Athletic Conference weekly baseball awards, the league announced on Monday. Orion Kerkering (Venice) has been named the AAC Pitcher of the Week and Roberto Peña (Caracas, Venezuela) has been tabbed the American Player of the Week.
Kerkering earns the honor for the first time in his career while Peña takes home the award for the second time.
Kerkering improved to 4-1 on the mound last Friday night with a dominant win over Niagara. The right-hander allowed just two baserunners in his start and struck out eight batters over 7.0 IP. He allowed one run on two hits in his outing.
Kerkering has struck out seven or more batters in five of his seven appearances to date and has 51 punchouts over 35.0 IP this season. His strikeout total leads all AAC pitchers and his 2.06 ERA ranks fifth in the league.
Peña posted a .500 batting average (6-for-12), a .684 OBP and slugged 1.167 over four games last week. The redshirt-junior recorded two doubles, two homers, six runs and eight RBI. He recorded at least one hit in all four games and scored a career-high four runs at FGCU last Tuesday.
Peña is batting .333 with six extra-base hits, three home runs and 12 RBI over his past 10 games. His 15 total RBI this season rank third on the team.
The Bulls will host Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday night before opening AAC play at UCF on April 1-3. First pitch against Bethune-Cookman is set for 6 p.m. in Tampa.
For tickets, please visit usfbullstix.com or call 1-800-Go-Bulls.
About USF Baseball
The USF Baseball program played its first season in 1966 and is entering its 57th season in 2022. Head coach Billy Mohl is entering his fifth season at the helm. The Bulls have made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, including four since 2015, and earned their first-ever Super Regional berth in 2021. USF was ranked in the Top 25 by five different publications in the final 2021 polls, checking in as high as No. 16. The Bulls have won five conference tournament titles (3 Sun Belt, 1 Metro and 1 American) and six regular season championships (3 Sun Belt, 2 Metro and 1 C-USA). USF baseball players have been recognized with All-America honors 12 times, most recently with third baseman David Villar in 2018, and 18 have earned Freshman All-America accolades, most recently Drew Brutcher and Carmine Lane in 2021. Four players were selected in the 2018 MLB Draft, including the program’s fourth first-round selection in pitcher Shane McClanahan, who made his Major League debut with the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2020 World Series and was the Rays’ postseason game one starter in 2021.
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