SU's Mike Miranda named SSAC Baseball Player of the Week

By Matt Green

ATLANTA -- Shorter University infielder Mike Miranda has been chosen as the Southern States Athletic Conference Baseball Player of the Week the league announced on Tuesday afternoon.

Miranda, who hails from Miami, Fla., led the 24th-ranked Hawks (35-12, 20-7 SSAC) to a crucial three-game sweep of SSAC rival Belhaven on Friday and Saturday of last week. The junior went 7-for-13 with three home runs, a double, a triple and six RBI as Shorter outscored the Blazers 21-5 over the life of the series.

Miranda opened the series on Friday with a 2-for-5, two home run performance that paced Shorter's 7-2 victory. After homering again in Shorter's 5-1 win in Saturday's opener, Miranda finished a home run away from the cycle in the series finale, when he went 4-for-5 with a double and a triple. Miranda added two RBI in that game.

On the year, Miranda leads Shorter and ranks No. 5 in the SSAC with eight home runs while also ranking No. 7 in the league with a .610 slugging percentage.

Miranda and the Hawks close out the regular season this Friday and Saturday with another important three-game conference set, this time on the road at SSAC leader and fourth-ranked Faulkner (41-9, 24-3). Shorter enters the series on a seven-game winning streak while Faulkner has won 17 in a row.

Shorter can lock up third place and a No. 3 seed in the SSAC Tournament by winning one of three in Montgomery.