Villanova University

Feb. 22, 2011

Official BIG EAST Release

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--Junior right fielder Matt Fleishman (East Northport, N.Y.) has been named to the first weekly BIG EAST Honor Roll of the season after ranking as the league's best hitter during the opening weekend of the 2011 season. He also was voted as the Philadelphia Big Five Baseball Player of the Week in awards that were announced this morning.

Fleishman helped lead Villanova to two victories at Norfolk State in a season-opening three game series. He batted .667 (8-for-12) against the Spartans and had the highest batting average of any hitter from a BIG EAST team during the opening weekend. Fleishman had four extra-base hits, including three doubles and a triple, and drew a pair of walks to finish the week with a .714 on-base percentage and a 1.083 slugging percentage.

In leading the Wildcats to two wins, Fleishman had at least two hits and two RBI in all three games Norfolk State and totaled five runs scored and seven runs batted in over the course of the series. He started off with a 4-for-5 performance in the season opener on Friday afternoon, when he collected two doubles and drove in three runs. In the rubber game of the series on Sunday afternoon, Fleishman drew a pair of walks and delivered a two-run triple in a 13-1 rout.

The BIG EAST and Big Five awards this week mark the first time in his Villanova career that Fleishman has received recognition from either organization. Despite this, his efforts over the weekend may simply have been a continuation of the way that Fleishman finished off the 2010 season. He overcame a midseason illness last year to bat .351 over the final nine games of the season, and picked up where he left off this past weekend.

Including the last nine games of the 2010 campaign and the first three contests this season, Fleishman is batting .429 (21-for-49) over his last 12 games with at least one hit in 11 of those 12 contests.

Jeremy Baltz of St. John's was chosen as the BIG EAST Player of the Week and Seton Hall pitcher Joe DiRocco earned Pitcher of the Week honors. Fleishman was joined on the honor roll by pitcher Justin Amlung (Louisville), pitcher Corey Baker (Pittsburgh), first baseman Trey Mancini (Notre Dame) and pitcher Harrison Musgrave (West Virginia).

This coming weekend the Wildcats will return to action when they begin a 10-day trip to North Carolina for Spring Break. The trip begins with a three-game series at Duke this weekend from Friday-Sunday.