April 19, 2016

MVC Release

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Junior pitcher Erin Struemph added another honor to her outstanding week when she was named the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week by the league office on Tuesday (April 19). The honor follows up the MVC Pitcher of the Week award Struemph earned on Monday.

Last weekend, Struemph stifled the Drake offense in a pair of complete game victories over the previously unbeaten Bulldogs in Des Moines. The junior hurler went 2-0 with a miniscule 0.39 earned run average in 18 innings pitched over three outings last week.

Struemph began her week with 4.0 innings of scoreless relief against Tulsa on Wednesday striking out two batters. Then on Saturday, she fired her fourth three-hitter of the Valley slate in shutting out Drake to hand the Bulldogs the first MVC loss of the season. She struck out nine in the win. Struemph returned to the circle on Sunday and again dealt a complete game gem with just five hits against in the series-clinching win. She recorded three strikeouts in the finale, including the final out of the game, to close to within one strikeout of fifth in school history.

For the week, Struemph held opponents to a miserly .148 batting average and allowed just 0.5 hits per inning with 14 strikeouts.

To qualify for Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week laurels, student-athletes must carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20, completed at least one academic year at a Valley institution and must be at least a sophomore in academic standing. Struemph holds a cumulative 3.78 grade point average and is an exercise and movement science major at MSU.

The Missouri State softball team (16-23, 5-8) returns to Killian Stadium for a midweek doubleheader against Wichita State (23-18, 9-5) beginning at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The Bears are back on the road in Iowa for a weekend series at UNI starting at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday.

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