April 16, 2007

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - (Monday, April 16, 2007) Southeast Missouri State pitcher Dustin Renfrow was named the Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week Monday for his performance on the mound in two appearances last week. It is the third time this season that Renfrow has earned the award.

Renfrow, a junior right-handed pitcher from West Plains, Mo., made two appearances on the mound last week and did not allow any runs to score. For the week, he threw 10 and one-third innings of shutout baseball.

Renfrow started the game Saturday at Samford and improved to 3-0 on the season as the Redhawks won, 4-0. The right-hander tossed his second complete game shutout of the season against the defending OVC regular season champions. Renfrow gave up only six hits through nine innings while walking just two batters; he also tied a season high with six strikeouts. He retired nine of the first ten batters he faced and allowed only three base runners to reach scoring position.

The junior, in his first year at Southeast after spending the last two at Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Mo., also made his first relief appearance of the season against Southern Illinois on Tuesday. He worked one and one-third hitless innings; only one runner reached base on an error.

Renfrow, who leads the OVC in earned run average and entered last week ranked 20th in the nation, lowered his ERA to 1.47. He becomes the first OVC pitcher to win the award three times in the same season since Rowdy Hardy of Austin Peay did so in 2005. The last Southeast pitcher to earn the award at least three times in a season was Todd Pennington in 2001. Pennington also earned All-American and OVC Pitcher of the Year honors that year, and he was the national ERA champion in 2001 with a 1.33 mark.

Southeast will continue a seven-game road trip Wednesday with a game at Southern Illinois in Carbondale, Ill. Renfrow is scheduled to make his next start Saturday in the first of a three-game conference series at Austin Peay.