February, 11, 2000

Buckle earns inaugural Canadian Player of the Week honour

Player of the Week, Week One Honours

By BOB ELLIOTT
           
RHP Matt Buckle made sure the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs started the 2000 college baseball season on the right foot.
 
 Buckle, a junior from Surrey, B.C. held the University of Arkansas at Monticello to one run in 5 2/3 innings in Tech's season-opening 14-1 win.
 
 For this successful start, Buckle is our first winner of Canadian Player of the Week honours of the more than 260 Canucks playing south of the border. The 6-foot-2, 180-pounder showed his new teammates that he belonged - walking one and fanning five.
 
 A transfer from Yavapai Community College, Buckle owned a 5-4 record with a 6.54 earned run average and 38 strikeouts in 61 2/3 innings.
 
 Buckle comes from the baseball hotbed of Surrey, which in 1997 produced three of the first four Canadians selected in the amateur June draft: shortstop Kevin Nicholson, of Stetson University, who was selected by San Diego in the first round; right-hander Aaron Myette, of Central Arizona Community College, chosen by the White Sox with their sandwich pick and right-hander Robbie Vael, who attended Eastern Utah and was selected in the second round by the Indians.
 
 As a youngster, Buckle's favorite team was the Toronto Blue Jays and his favourite player was four-time Cy Young award winner Greg Maddux.
 
 While all schools have not begun play yet there were some other outstanding performances in week one:
 
 
_ Arkansas State Indians' catcher Kent Brunen (junior, Vanscoy, Sask.) hit the second pitch he saw out of the park for a solo homer in a 19-1 win over Lambuth. Brunen was 3-for-4 while driving in two runs and scoring two runs.
 
 
_ Charleston Southern Bucaneers' shortstop Jay Corrigale (senior, Brampton, Ont.) extended his Big South record consecutive-game hitting streak to 29 games with a double in the third inning of a 13-5 loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks.
 
 
_ Louisiana Tech Bulldogs' outfielder Fraser Inouye (junior, Parksville, B.C.) batted .400 in Louisiana Tech's first four games with three doubles and an RBI.
 
 
_ Blinn Junior College outfielder Kevin Virtue (freshman, London, Ont.) hit two homers in Blinn's first four games, all victories.