UK catcher Sean Coughlin has been named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week after leading the Wildcats to a 4-1 record last week.
The junior from Morrison, Colorado, hit five home runs and three doubles while batting .400 in the five games while posting a 1.133 slugging percentage and .640 on-base clip. He scored 11 times and drove in seven runs.
In UK’s series sweep over Northwestern, Coughlin hit a home run in the first game and two in the second before the Wildcats quit pitching to him. He was walked five times in his next seven plate appearances.
For the season, Coughlin is batting .412 with a team-high five homers and 12 RBIs. His .941 slugging percentage is tops in the SEC.
Coughlin is the third Wildcat to be named SEC Player of the Week in the past two seasons as Billy Grace and John Shelby each garnered the honor once last year. Prior to that, no UK player had earned a player of the week honor in eight years.
UK Offense On Top of SEC Statistics: UK’s offense ranks first or second in the SEC in 10 of 14 statistical categories as released by the league office on Monday.
The Wildcats rank first in the conference in eight statistics, including slugging percentage (.540), on-base percentage (.443), runs (9.3/game), RBIs (8.3/game), doubles (3.3/game), home runs (1.2/game), total bases (18.4/game) and walks (5.9/game).
In batting average (.329) and hits (11.2/game), UK ranks second to LSU. The only categories Kentucky is below the top two are at bats, triples, strikeouts and stolen bases.
Individually, Antone DeJesus ranks second in the league in batting at .463 while Coughlin ranks seventh at .412. Coughlin leads the league in slugging (.941) while Collin Cowgill ranks second (.805) and Ryan Strieby is fourth (.707).
Coughlin, DeJesus, Strieby and Cowgill all rank in the top 10 in the SEC in on-base percentage as well.
Coughlin’s five home runs are tied for tops in the league with Arkansas ’ Kody Valverde and Strieby ranks second in doubles with seven. Cowgill is in the top five in the league with 16 RBIs and Strieby cracked the top 10 with 14.