FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
S-109-07-08
Monday, April 28, 2008

Rodney Francis, Sam Heaps Sweep Commonwealth Conference Baseball Honors

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Elizabethtown College swept the Commonwealth Conference baseball weekly honors on Monday, as sophomore outfielder Rodney Francis (Pottstown, PA/Owen J. Roberts) was named Player of the Week, while junior righthander Sam Heaps (Landenberg, PA/Avon Grove) was selected Pitcher of the Week after the Blue Jays went 4-1 overall and clinched the top seed in this week's conference tournament.

Francis went 10-for-21 with 10 runs scored, six runs batted in and seven stolen bases on the week. He finished 4-for-6 with four steals and four runs scored in a 19-13 win at Susquehanna University on Tuesday, and went a combined 5-for-11 with five runs scored and two steals as the Jays took two out of three games from Albright College. Francis capped the week by going 2-for-4 and driving in the go-ahead run in an 8-4 win at Arcadia University on Sunday.

Heaps threw a two-hit shutout and tied a career high with nine strikeouts as the Blue Jays blanked Albright 9-0 to clinch the top seed in the conference tournament on Friday afternoon. He allowed just a pair of singles and retired 16 batters in a row at one point to post his first shutout of the season.

For the season, Francis is batting .388 with 12 doubles, two home runs, a team-high 38 runs batted in, 42 runs scored and 19 stolen bases. Heaps is 5-1 in nine starts with a 2.97 earned run average and 57 strikeouts in 57 2/3 innings pitched.

The Blue Jays (23-10 overall, 10-2 Commonwealth) will play the winner of Tuesday's play-in game between Widener University and Lebanon Valley College on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. at Owls Field in West Lawn in the opening game of the Commonwealth Conference playoffs.