Cadenhead Earns Big South Pitcher of the Week Honors

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – VMI senior second baseman A.J. Yoder (Belleville, Pa.) and Charleston Southern sophomore Jesse Cadenhead (Denver, N.C.) have been named the Choice Hotels Player of the Week and New Balance Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for games played April 20-26, it was announced today by the League office.

Cadenhead tossed his best game of the season in defeating Radford, 6-1 in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday.  He just missed his second complete game of the season, going 8.1 innings and allowing just one run on six hits, with four strikeouts and one walk.  He did not give up any extra base hits and held the Highlanders to a .200 batting average.  Cadenhead’s line last week:  1-0, 8.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R/ER, 1 BB, 4 SO, 1.08 ERA.

Yoder batted .500 (9-18) in helping VMI to a 3-2 mark last week, including its first series win over Winthrop in Rock Hill.  In the Keydets’ 10-inning loss at Old Dominion, Yoder hit a 2-run homer to account for all of VMI’s scoring against the Monarchs.  He then went 2-3 with two RBI in VMI’s 6-5 win over Norfolk State, which snapped the Keydets’ eight-game losing streak.  Yoder recorded an RBI in VMI’s one-run loss to Winthrop in the series opener, then went 5-5 with two runs and a double in a 6-5 win in game two.  He followed that with a pair of runs, including the game-winner, in Sunday’s series clinching victory over the Eagles.  Yoder struck out just once in 20 plate appearances and added two walks, two stolen bases, two sacrifice bunts and was hit by three pitches in recording a .609 on-base percentage in addition to a .722 slugging percentage.

Other Player of the Week Nominees:  Tyler Thornburg (Charleston Southern), Tyler Bortnick (Coastal Carolina), Bill Manion (High Point), Tyler Bream (Liberty), Jared Combs (Presbyterian), Kevin Weidenbacher (UNC Asheville) and Eddie Rohan (Winthrop).

Other Pitcher of the Week Nominees:  Shawn Teufel (Liberty), Jesse Harmon (Presbyterian) and Chris Henderson (VMI).