Southern Illinoise University Athletics
SIU's Jerel Deitering Named Valley Pitcher Of The Week
02/18/2002 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
Feb. 18, 2002
St. Louis, Mo. - On Monday, February 18, Southern Illinois University sophomore pitcher Jerel Deitering (1-0) was named the first Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week for the 2002 season. The award is the first in his Saluki career.
"I'm happy for him and our staff felt he was worthy of this honor. I hope it's a sign of things to come for him and our team in 2002," said Dan Callahan, Saluki head coach. "It's nice to see a guy who works so hard receive that kind of award."
On Saturday, February 16, Deitering set a career-high with 11 strikeouts and eight innings pitched in an 8-2 win over Louisiana-Monroe. He had a perfect game through four and two third innings, allowed no runs, three hits and faced just three batters over the minimum. No hitter reached third base during his performance. Deitering, a native of Auburn, Washington, walked just one batter and finished with a 0.00 earned run average.
"It's pretty exciting to win the award and pitching the game on Saturday. I just went out there and did what I was capable of and it was a good day," stated Deitering. "It's still early in the season but hopefully I can keep getting better and better."
Deitering's 8-2 win also gave the Salukis their first 2-0 start since 1985. SIU is currently 2-1 after a season-opening series against Louisiana-Monroe on the road last weekend.
