EDISON, N.J. – After hurling eight innings and surrendering just one run against mid-major power Lamar, junior pitcher Gavin Wallace has been named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Pitcher of the Week. For Wallace, it is the second career weekly honor from the conference office, with his first coming during the last week of last year’s regular season.

"Gavin has improved with his velocity, control, competitiveness, and preparation," Pitching Coach Ted Hurvul said. "The way that he has prepared has allowed him to improve in these areas."

“It’s definitely a nice accolade but at the end of the day all we’re worried about is getting team wins,” Wallace said. “We were down 2-1 in the series and needed to get a win that day and we gave it all we got. We got the run support, the defense behind me and since I’m not a strikeout pitcher the defense is a major role every time I’m on the mound. Without them, it definitely wasn’t a win so we’re just happy we got out of there with a split series.”

In his first start of the season, Wallace shut down the dangerous bats of the Lamar Cardinals to the tune of eight innings pitched with just one run allowed. That run came across the plate in the second inning and after that frame, Wallace did not allow a runner past second. For the game, Wallace struck out six without walking a batter. The eight innings thrown tied a career-high, with his last effort coming in his breakout game against Rider last season.

Wallace’s start against Lamar is even more impressive with the fact that Lamar ranked in the top-35 in the country last season with a .300 batting average and averaged six runs per game.

Wallace and the Stags will hit the road again when they travel to VCU for a meeting with the Rams on Friday at 3pm.