By
Brian Penso
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Arizona junior right fielder Shelley Duncan became Monday the third Wildcat this season to be named the Pacific 10 Conference's Player of the Week.
The junior joins senior first baseman Ernie Durazo and sophomore second baseman Matt Abram in the record books.
Currently, Duncan leads the nations with 19 home runs on the season.
"Every time he comes up to the plate, he is dangerous," Arizona pitching coach Bill Kinneberg said. "Every time he swings the bat, he is capable of doing a lot of damage. He can turn the tide on one pitch."
As much as this is considered an individual award, UA coaches said the accolade can be a tribute to every player in the lineup who has produced offensively.
"(Abram and Shelley) are both swinging the bat really well right now," UA head coach Jerry Stitt said. "For those guys to be successful, others must get on base in order to give them RBI opportunities. That is why this award is a tribute to our whole team. Everyone on this team has earned this award."
During the past two weeks, both Abram and Duncan have been honored by the conference for leading the Wildcats to a 14 run-per-game average.
"Both have been hitting all season," Durazo said. "Shelley is one of the most dangerous hitters in the nation, and he adds a whole new dimension to our offense."
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For last weekend's series with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the Wildcat pitching staff was coming off its worst outing of the year in which they allowed 17 runs to Washington State the previous weekend. The poor starts and lack of quality innings caused Arizona's coaches to be openly critical of the pitching staff.
That changed this weekend.
The Wildcat pitching staff allowed a total of 16 runs in the three-game series to the delight of its pitching coach.
In Saturday's series finale, freshman pitchers Chris Goodman and Jason Martinez combined for a three-hit, seven-inning shutout of the Islanders.
Goodman had a perfect game, going for 4.2 innings before allowing his only hit of the game.
Martinez pitched the final two innings to earn Goodman his third win of the season.
"Goodman did a great job for us this past weekend," Kinneberg said. "He bounced back from his last start to pitch a great game."
Stitt was very impressed with the way his pitching staff battled this past weekend.
"We pitched well this weekend," Stitt said. "Every pitcher pitched hard to each batter. It was very encouraging to see them all do well."
