CHARLOTTE, N.C.- After picking up FCSAA Pitcher of the Week honors Tuesday for his dominating performance against the Polk State Eagles last week, Florida SouthWestern freshman Brian Holiday one upped himself on Wednesday as the reliever was named the NJCAA National Pitcher of the Week as announced by the National Office. He is the first Buccaneer in program history to earn the honors.
Holiday earned every bit of the award this week, entering in a 1-1 game in the 5th inning with the Suncoast Conference Championship on the line and all he did was strike out the first seven hitters he faced before the Bucs took the lead and he blanked the Eagles for the final three innings, finishing off a 2-1 win to give FSW their third consecutive conference title. In all, Holiday wielded five innings of two hit, shutout baseball, striking out 12 and not walking a single batter to earn his sixth victory of the season.
In 17 games during his freshman season Holiday is 6-1 with four saves, striking out 65 hitters in 42 1/3 innings pitched and posting an FCSAA best 1.06 ERA. His 13.82 strikeouts per nine are good for second best in the Sunshine State.
Holiday and the Bucs will wrap up the regular season tonight when they travel to Bradenton to take on State College of Florida before hosting the first round of the FCSAA State Tournament on May 6-7 when they take on the runners-up from the Southern Conference in a best two out of three series at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers.