Marshall senior righty Arik Sikula was named Conference USA Co-Pitcher of the Week with Tulane’s Conrad Flynn announced by league officials on Monday. Sikula is the first pitcher in program history to earn the C-USA weekly award.
Sikula produced two outstanding starts during the week, suffering a tough-luck 1-0 loss at No. 6 Virginia before shutting down the Ohio offense to earn his first win of the season. On Tuesday against the sixth-ranked Cavaliers, Sikula allowed one unearned run over six innings, while scattering six hits (all singles) and striking out two. He followed that performance in dominant fashion by recording a career-high 10 strikeouts against Ohio in a seven-inning, two-hit appearance. Eight of the 10 strikeouts were swinging as he struck out seven of the nine batters in the Bobcats’ lineup. The two hits allowed were both singles, one an infield hit, as he also tied a career-best by working seven frames on the bump.
For the week, Sikula finished with a perfect 0.00 ERA, allowing just one unearned run over 13 innings. The senior only gave up eight hits during the two outings, which were all singles, and tallied 12 punch outs to five walks. Both the Cavaliers and Bobcats combined to hit just .178 against him.