MSU's Power-Hitting Connor Powers Tabbed SEC Player Of The Week

STARKVILLE, Miss. - A three-home run, 15-RBI weekend in the BankFirst Baseball Challenge has netted SEC Player of the Week honors for Mississippi State senior first baseman Connor Powers. Powers was also honored as a national player of the week by Tucson-based Collegiate Baseball newspaper.

Powers (.357), from Naperville, Ill., went 5-for-11 (.455) on the weekend, opening and closing play in the BankFirst Baseball Challenge with dramatic big swings. Powers tied a career-best with six runs driven in and launched his second walk-off home run of the year, a three-run 10th-inning shot that lifted State to a 10-7 Friday evening win over Southeast Missouri. And in Sunday's 14-6 decision over Michigan State, Powers delivered a pair of three-run blasts and set a career-high with seven RBI. He finished the weekend with seven walks, a .632 on-base percentage and a 1.273 slugging percentage.

He now leads the SEC with seven home runs and 25 RBI through 11 games and with 45 career home runs has tied former MSU standout Tommy Raffo for the No. 7 spot among State's all-time career leaders.

Powers belted a career-best 19 home runs in 2009 and finished the year with the second-highest fielding percentage (.998) among SEC first basemen.

The weekly conference award is the first for Powers and the first by a Mississippi State player since former Bulldog catcher and Coleman/Johnny Bench Award winner Edward Easley was honored as the SEC Player of the Week March 19, 2007.

Mississippi State posted a 4-0 record to win last weekend's BankFirst Baseball Challenge at Dudy Noble Field. MSU, 8-3, closes out a 12-game season-opening homestand Wednesday at 4 p.m. against Western Kentucky University.