UGA's Poythress named player of the week

ATHENS -- Georgia junior first baseman Rich Poythress has been named SEC player of the Week and a Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week after leading the Bulldogs to their second straight SEC sweep and their first series win at Tennessee since 2001.

Poythress hit .615 (8-for-13) with five home runs and 12 RBIs in four games last week. In Tuesday's game against Wright State, he hit a two-run home run in the first inning, then had his first career multi-home run game along with two doubles and two walks for a career-high 12 total bases against Tennessee on Friday. He followed that with another two-home run game on Saturday and tied his career high with five RBI. In his first nine plate appearances against the Vols, Poythress was 6-for-6 with four home runs, two doubles and three walks.

Poythress is one of five players selected as a Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week. Other players to receive the honor include Susquehanna's John Lunardi, Coastal Carolina's Cody Wheeler and Texas-Arlington's Nathan Long.

The Grovetown native is now ranked in the top three in the SEC in nine offensive categories including first in batting average (.447), on-base percentage (.556) and RBI (47); second in slugging percentage (.936), runs (37), home runs (13) and total bases (88); and third in hits (42) and walks (22).

Poythress is currently eighth all-time at UGA with a .357 career batting average. His 31 career home runs is one shy of 10th all-time at UGA, his 146 RBI is four shy of 10th, and his 38 career doubles is nine shy of 10th all-time at Georgia.

Poythress and the Bulldogs play host to Clemson Tuesday at 7 p.m. before paying the Tigers a visit on Wednesday. LSU visits Athens for a three-game series beginning Friday.