March 14, 2011
By Cameron Harris, Assistant Media Relations Director
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - After a week in which he hit for the second cycle in school history, blasted a grand slam and led Tennessee to six wins in six days, Volunteer senior third baseman Matt Duffy has been named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week for the first time in his career, the league office announced on Monday afternoon.
Duffy finished the prolific week with a .381 batting average in the six games, collecting eight hits, including a pair of home runs, and 12 RBIs. For the season, the Milton, Mass., native now leads the SEC in RBIs with 24 and ranks seventh in batting average at .412. He is also second in the league in on-base percentage (.543) behind only teammate Khayyan Norfork and fourth in the conference in slugging percentage (.725).
The 6-3 third baseman opened UT's two-game mid-week set against New Orleans with a 2-for-4, three RBI effort. Duffy then one-upped himself and hit for the cycle against the Privateers the following day, finishing 4-for-6 with four RBIs and three runs scored. He had a double in the first inning, a triple in the fourth, his second home run of the season in the fifth and a single in the eighth. Chris Burke is the only other Vol to accomplish the rare feat, doing so against Vanderbilt on May 11, 2001.
Just three days later, Duffy launched his team-leading third home run of the year, blasting his first grand slam as a Vol to pace Tennessee to an 11-5 triumph against Manhattan. The Milton, Mass., native knocked in five runs and scored four more in the Orange and White's four-game series sweep over the Jaspers. The last time the Big Orange defeated one opponent four consecutive times in a single series was May 7-8, 1962, when it took five straight from Vanderbilt.
The Volunteers will close out their 16-game, season-opening homestand on Tuesday when Alabama A&M makes the trek to Rocky Top for a 3 p.m. contest. Tennessee will then hit the road for the first time in 2011 on Wednesday when it packs its bags for Clarksville, Tenn., and a 7 p.m. ET showdown against Austin Peay.
That will be the Orange and White's final tune-up before the beginning of SEC play as it will travel straight from there to Lexington, Ky., where it will begin a three-game set against border-rival Kentucky. Game times for that series are set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, March 20, and 1 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.