April 7, 2003

Memphis, Tenn. - Conference-USA named Memphis righthander Jarrett Grube its Pitcher of the Week for the week-ending April 6th, in an announcement made Monday by the league office. Grube, a JUCO-transfer from Vincennes College, earned his first victory in a Tiger uniform with 7.2 innings of relief work in the Tigers' 5-4 series-clinching win over TCU.

"Jarrett really stepped it up for us Saturday when we needed to get a win," Memphis head coach Dave Anderson said. "His ankle was still a little sore, so we didn't want to start him. But, when we got behind early, I felt like he would give us the best chance to slow them down and give us a chance to win. He did that with a gutsy performance."

Grube, who is the Tigers' No. 1 starter, was scheduled to miss the TCU-series because of the ankle injury he sustained in his start against Arkansas State Tuesday, but the righthander was called in from the bullpen after Memphis (10-20, 3-9 C-USA) fell behind 3-0 in the series-deciding contest.

After allowing an unearned run in the third inning, Grube shut the Horned Frogs out the rest of the way as the Tigers rallied for a 5-4 win and picked up its first series win of the season. The six-foot-four, 225-pounder struck out nine batters to give him a team-high 39 for the season.

Grube is the first Tiger to win the league's weekly pitching honor since 2001 when Jason Wiedmeyer won the award following his performance in a 2-1 victory over Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles' outfielder Jeff Cook won the Hitter of the Week award after hitting .471 with four home runs and eight RBI.

The Tigers' Josh Payne was a nominee for the hitting award after batting .462 with four home runs and 11 RBI for the week. Coming into the week, Payne had just two home runs and six RBI. The junior rightfielder hit three home runs and drove in eight runs in the Tigers' 24-1 thumping of UT-Martin.