Longoria named RRAC Pitcher of the Week

WACO – On Monday, the Red River Athletic Conference named UHV starting pitcher Mason Longoria Pitcher of the Week for the week of March 27-April 2.

The Victoria native struck out a career-high nine batters while allowing one run on three hits in seven innings of work for an 8-2 win over Huston-Tillotson on Friday.

It was the third time this season the Victoria St. Joseph product threw seven innings or more and helped the Jaguars (17-19, 11-7) to a series win over the Rams.

His K/9 rate of 8.28 ranks eighth in the conference, one spot behind teammate Julian Garcia.

"Winning this award feels great," Longoria said. "I know winning as a team is the ultimate goal, but this is something I've worked very hard for coming into this year. The team was able to score runs and the bullpen came in behind me and did their job. So, I feel like this is a team award. I just want to go out there and put my team in the best position to win every time I'm on the mound."

Longoria has settled in over his last five starts with a K/9 ratio of 9.30 over 24.2 innings pitched.

Friday was his third win of the season.

The sophomore right-hander ranks sixth in the conference in strikeouts with 50 after his career outing against the Rams.

"Mason has worked his tail off for us this season," said head coach Jonathan Stavinoha. "I'm happy to see his work get rewarded. He's done a great job the last few games of being aggressive and attacking the zone. That's put us in positions to win and I can't wait to see him build on that."

Longoria is the second UHV baseball player to earn a weekly honor, joining senior Hayden Leopold who won Player of the Week for the week of March 6-12.

LSU-Alexandria's Justin Ardoin was named RRAC Player of the Week over UHV's Zach Lee, Louisiana Christian's Nick Lorio and LSU-Shreveport's Bobby Vath.

UHV is scheduled to host Jarvis Christian in a three-game conference series this week.