March 21, 2016

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina sophomore catcher John Jones has been named SEC Player of the Week. Jones hit .500 (7-for-14) in the Arkansas series with a pair of game-winning home runs as well as eight runs batted in.

Jones opened the series going 3-for-5 with a pair of run scored and a RBI in the 10-6 win. He followed that up with a two-run homer to break a 2-2 tied in the 6-2 win over Arkansas on Saturday. Jones capped the weekend off going 3-for-5 with a double and a game-winning three-rum homer in the bottom of the eighth inning that lifted Carolina to an 8-6 victory vs. the Razorbacks. Jones’ five RBIs in Sunday’s contest was a career-high as well. Jones leads the SEC in batting average (.422) and is tied for the league lead with six home runs and 57 total bases. He ranks third in RBIs (31), third in on-base percentage (.515), fourth in slugging percentage (.687)

This is Jones’ second conference award of the year as he was also Co-Player of the Week on February 29 after the Penn State series. It is the fourth time this season a Gamecock has been recognized by the conference. Clarke Schmidt earned SEC Pitcher of the Week on March 7 and Adam Hill was SEC Freshman of the Week on March 14.