Missouri sweeps SEC baseball, softball pitcher of the week awards

Missouri swept the Southeastern Conference baseball and softball pitcher of the week awards Monday with Reggie McClain and Paige Lowary earning the respective honors.

It was the second straight weekly award for McClain, a right-handed junior transfer from Manatee Community College in Florida.

He threw a four-hit shutout Friday against Sam Houston State. McClain, who was also chosen as MVP of the Kleberg Bank College Classic at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, struck out four with no walks or hit batters.

He is the first pitcher since LSU’s Aaron Nola in 2013 to win the conference’s weekly award in back-to-back weeks and the first Tigers pitcher to post a shutout since Cubs farmhand and former second-round pick Rob Zastryzny blanked Georgia on April 5, 2013. McClain has started the season with 17 consecutive scoreless innings.

Meanwhile, Lowary, a freshman left-hander from Dallas Center, Iowa, won three games last week during the Mary Nutter Classic in Cathedral City, Calif.

Lowary struck out 15 and allowed only three earned runs in 14 2/3 innings against Long Beach State, No. 25 Texas and No. 13 Arizona.

She is the Tigers’ first pitcher of the week since sophomore Tori Finucane earned the honor last April 28 en route to SEC freshman of the year honors.

Missouri gymnastics appears in poll

For the first time in three years, Missouri’s gymnastics team is ranked in the GymInfo national poll.

The Tigers were No. 23 on Monday in the first release of rankings based off regional qualifying scores.

Additionally, Missouri is ranked No. 20 as a team on the vault.

This story was originally published February 23, 2015 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Missouri sweeps SEC baseball, softball pitcher of the week awards."