April 23, 2007

After setting the tone for a three-game sweep at No. 23 Tulane, Houston junior righthander Aaron Brown has been named Conference USA Pitcher of the Week for the period of April 16-22. Hitter of the Week honors went to Marshall junior C Tommy Johnson, whose career-best weekend helped the Thundering Herd to a series win at Memphis.

Brown turned in a dominating performance in the series opener at Tulane, allowing only five hits with seven strikeouts in seven shutout innings against the Green Wave. He struck out at least one batter in all but two innings with two strikeouts in two innings. Brown did not allow a Tulane baserunner to reach third base until the seventh inning, by which time the Cougars had built a 4-0 lead. He walked the first two batters of the game but proceeded to retire 13 of the next 16 batters that he faced.

Johnson hit a team-best .545 for the week, going 6-for-11 with a 1.091 slugging percentage. The junior catcher made his first career starts in C-USA action and hit a team-best .600 in three starting nods at Memphis. Johnson entered the week with three career home runs, before hitting two round trippers against the Tigers and driving in eight runs. He went 3-for-3 with four RBI and two runs scored (all season highs) in game two of the Memphis series to help the Thundering Herd snap its 16-game losing streak. Johnson's hot hitting continued in Sunday's series finale as he went 2-for-3 with three RBI, including his two-run, seventh-inning home run that gave Marshall the 10-run rule victory and the series win.