May 18, 2009

DeKALB, Ill. - Northern Illinois outfielder Jordin Hood (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Lake Zurich) was selected as the Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week today for his outstanding performance over four games for the Huskies last week.

"That's great news for Jordin," said NIU head coach Ed Mathey. "He has been one of our most consistent performers all year. For him to be a two-time winner this year is a testament to his consistency. We are real happy for Jordin."

Hood hit .421 (8-for-19) with five runs, eight hits, 11 RBI, three homeruns, a walk, a steal, a .476 on-base percentage and a .895 slugging percentage. Against UW-Milwaukee on Tuesday, he went 2-for-5 with two runs and a career-high five RBI on two homers for his third career multi-homer game. On Thursday versus Western Michigan, he went 4-for-6 with two runs, a homer, a walk and four RBI. On Saturday against the Broncos, he went 2-for-4 with a run, two RBI, a steal and was hit by a pitch for the 23rd time, which ranks third nationally. His huge final week of the season helped him establish career-bests in batting average (.382), runs (57), hits (76), doubles (15), homers (10), RBI (46) and steals (14).

The junior is now the fifth Huskie to earn a conference weekly award this season and becomes the latest Huskie to win the award twice in the same year as Adam Holdenrid did it last year on March 4th and 25th. In his tenure at NIU, head coach Ed Mathey has had 10 pitchers and 11 hitters earn MAC Weekly honors since 2003.

Hood was given the honor for the first time this season on March 23 after he went 5-for-10 with five RBI, four runs, three doubles, a triple, two walks, three HBP, a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .667 on-base percentage in a three-game sweep of Buffalo.