May 9, 2005
CLEVELAND - Cleveland State swept the weekly Horizon League awards as junior Grace Luginbuhl was named Pitcher of the Week and Shannon Graves earned the Player of the Week nod. The honor is the fourth of Luginbuhl's career and her second this season, while the recognition is the first of Graves' career. The duo helped the Vikings to a perfect 4-0 mark in the league last week, with a midweek win at Youngstown State and a three-game sweep of Loyola over the weekend.
Luginbuhl (Lima, Ohio/Bath) held the Loyola hitters in check, appearing in all three games over the weekend. She went 2-0 with a 0.93 ERA, allowing just two earned runs, 10 hits and a walk while fanning 13 in 15.0 innings of work. In the opener, she tossed a four-hit shutout with five strikeouts and did not allow a runner past second base after the first inning. After tossing a scoreless seventh in the second game, she held the Ramblers to just one hit through five innings in the finale, striking out five of the first six batters.
Batting in the number two spot, Graves (Medina, Ohio/Medina) jumpstarted the Viking offense all week long, hitting .563 (9-for-16) with six runs scored and a pair of stolen bases. She was especially impressive in the weekend series sweep of Loyola, going 7-for-9 (.778) with a pair of three-hit games to extend her season-best hitting streak to five contests.
Cleveland State (21-24, 10-5 HL) claimed the third seed in the upcoming Horizon League Championship, winning 15 of its final 20 games, including an 8-1 mark down the stretch in league play. The Vikings will open the double-elimination tournament against Butler at 11:00 a.m. CDT on Thursday, May 12 at the Ashwaubenon Sports Complex in Green Bay, Wis.