McEwen collects SEC Freshman of the Week honors

FAYETTEVILLE — On the strength of a stellar performance at the plate against Ole Miss, Hannah McEwen has been named the SEC Freshman of the Week as announced by the league Tuesday morning.

McEwen paced Arkansas’ offense with a .636 batting average (7-for-11) with two home runs, seven RBI and four runs scored in the program’s first sweep of Ole Miss since 2001, and by week’s end, had broken Arkansas’ single-season RBI record.

This marks McEwen’s second SEC weekly honor of the year, and the Razorbacks’ sixth overall. She was named Co-SEC Player of the Week in early March.

“Hannah had a really big weekend for us,” coach Courtney Deifel said following Monday’s win over Ole Miss. “She’s swinging the bat so well, and I could say this about our entire lineup, but she’s one that we want to see at the plate in a big moment.”

McEwen had at least two hits in each game against Ole Miss including a three-hit performance in the series opener.

In her first at-bat of the series, she got the Razorbacks started with a solo home run and went on to score two of Arkansas’ three runs in game one.

She added another home run in game two, a grand slam in the sixth inning that pushed the Razorbacks’ lead from 4-3 to the eventual final score of 8-3. The home run was her team-leading 10th of the season and third grand slam.

On the heels of her sixth four-RBI performance of the season, McEwen continued her standout weekend with two more hits, a pair of RBI singles to help Arkansas secure the sweep.

With her sixth-inning base knock in game three, she recorded her 51st RBI of the season which surpassed the previous record of 50 established by Sandra Smith during the 2010 season.

With her efforts against Ole Miss, McEwen raised her season batting average 20 points and is now hitting .370 which leads the team and ranks 13th in the SEC.

The San Diego native is also tied for seventh in the SEC with 10 home runs and fourth in the league with 51 runs driven in. McEwen enters the final weekend of the regular season with a seven-game hit streak.

Arkansas’ SEC Weekly Honors in 2018

Feb. 19 – SEC Freshman of the Week: Mary Haff
March 5 – Co-SEC Player of the Week: Hannah McEwen
March 5 – SEC Freshman of the Week: Mary Haff
April 3 – SEC Pitcher of the Week: Autumn Storms
April 17 – Co-SEC Freshman of the Week: Mary Haff
May 1 – SEC Freshman of the Week: Hannah McEwen

Arkansas (37-11, 12-9 SEC) is set to close out the 2018 regular season with a weekend road trip to No. 13 LSU.

The three-game series begin Friday at 6:30 p.m.

The game will be streamed online and will also be featured as part of Bases Loaded coverage on the SEC Network.