April 29, 2003
WACO, Texas - Baylor centerfielder Chris Durbin was named the Big 12 Conference Co-Player of the Week for games played April 22-28, the league announced Tuesday.
Durbin, a senior from Wylie, Texas, hit.524 and slugged .857 for the week as Baylor pounded TCU on Tuesday, then took two of three from Kansas over the weekend. Durbin got the Bears' offense rolling in all four games, reaching base safely to start every game last week. His four doubles on the week improved his season total to 18, leaving him on pace to tie his own school record of 25 in a season. He also homered, drove in four runs and scored eight times out of the leadoff spot in the order.
Friday against TCU, Durbin recorded five hits in a game for the second time in a week and a half, going 5-for-5 with three RBI and four runs scored. He led off the midweek game with his team-leading 15th home run of the year but left the game before getting a chance to tie the Baylor record of six hits in a game.
Friday night, the senior recorded two of Baylor's seven hits in a 4-3 loss to Kansas. The next day, he went 3-for-6 with two doubles and three runs scored as the Bears bounced back to beat the Jayhawks 11-3. Durbin extended his hitting streak to seven games with an RBI double in the sixth inning of a 11-5 Baylor win Sunday.
Durbin is Baylor's third conference player of the week for 2003; Durbin won the award in February, and Ross Bennett won it the week after that. This week's award marks the second such honor of Durbin's career.
Durbin shared the award with Nebraska sophomore 1B-OF Curtis Ledbetter, who hit .600 (9-for-15) with two home runs, nine RBI and seven runs in four games. He also extended his hitting streak to a Big 12-leading 22 games as he had three multi-hit games last week.
Texas A&M junior Kyle Parcus was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week after limited a hot-hitting Missouri team to just one run on five hits in 8 2/3 innings of work, striking out a season-high seven hitters.
Baylor hosts Houston Wednesday at 6 p.m., then welcomes Kansas State to town for a three-game series this weekend.
