Allen Rice Named SEC Baseball Player of the Week
3/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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TUSCALOOSA -- University of Alabama sophomore second baseman Allen Rice has been named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week in an announcement made the league office Monday afternoon.
Arkansas pitcher Jarret Gardner was named the SEC Pitcher of the Week, after recording a win and save last week against No. 21 Kansas and No. 8 South Carolina.
Rice is the third Crimson Tide player honored by the league office this season and the second in as many weeks. Senior right fielder Beau Hearod was the SEC Player of the Week last week, while freshman pitcher Allen Ponder was named SEC Pitcher of the Week after tossing five shutout innings against No. 2 Rice for a win in his UA debut on Feb. 16.
In four games last week, the Pelham, Ala., native batted .583 (7-for-12) with five runs scored, two doubles, one triple, two home runs and nine RBI. He also compiled a 1.417 slugging percentage.
He hit safely in all four games to raise his season batting average 63 points over the course of the week.
Rice was instrumental in the Crimson Tide’s three-game sweep of the Georgia Bulldogs and was responsible for the winning or tying run in all three games.
In the series, Rice batted .600 (6-for-10) with four runs scored, two doubles, two home runs and nine RBI. He entered the series with two home runs and 10 RBI in his first 16 games of the season.
In the series opener with Georgia, Rice collected three hits and four RBI, including a game-winning RBI single in bottom of the eighth inning, as UA capped a wild come-from-behind 8-7 win, UA trailed 5-0 in the the fourth and then overcame a 2 hours rain delay for the win. Rice’s game winner came at nearly 1 a.m., some six hours after the start of the game
He slugged two home runs in UA’s 12-2 win over the Bulldogs on March 15. It was his first career SEC home run and first career two home run game at Alabama. He also also established a career-high five RBI in the win over the Bulldogs.
Rice was also hit three times in the game, giving him the team and SEC lead with 11 HBPs this season. Two of the three HBPs came after his second home run.
In the series finale, Rice walked and scored the tying run in UA’s six-run, fifth inning for another comeback win. UA trailed 5-0 after the first inning and 5-1 entering the 5th before putting eight straight runners on base, including Rice who walked to load the bases. He eventually scored the tying run and Bama later pushed the game-winner across against UGA ace Sean Ruthven.
For the season, Rice is batting .286 (17-for-60) with four home runs and 19 RBI in 19 games. In addition, Rice leads the Alabama team and SEC with 11 HBPs.
