SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University senior center fielder Matt Howard was named Thursday by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association as the Division II Atlantic Regional "Hitter of the Week" for the week ending Feb. 20, 2011.

Howard, a native of Philadelphia and graduate of LaSalle College High School, had a .500 batting average with one triple, three home runs, a 1.111 slugging percentage and 11 RBIs in four games last week to lead The Rock a sweep of opening-weekend action at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Howard hit a home run in each of The Rock's wins over Tiffin, highlighted by a grand slam in SRU's 9-5 victory Feb. 19. The following day, his solo home run proved to be the winning tally in a 5-4 Rock victory over the Dragons.

Howard also tripled home the winning run in SRU's 9-8 win Feb. 20 over St. Joseph's (Ind.) after hitting a solo home run in his first at-bat of the season as part of The Rock's 8-3 season-opening win Feb. 19.

The Rock, ranked 19th in the first NCBWA regular-season national poll of the season and 22nd in the latest American Baseball Coaches Association national poll, were originally scheduled to put their 4-0 record on the line this weekend in a three-game series vs. Shippensburg. Those games were postponed due to unplayable field conditions at the Ripken Baseball Academy in Aberdeen, Md., the scheduled site of the game.

SRU and Shippensburg will try to make up two of those three games April 17 in a 1 p.m. doubleheader in Shippensburg.

The Rock's next scheduled action is March 4, when the Green and White are scheduled to meet Assumption (Mass.) and nationally-ranked Minnesota State in back-to-back nine-inning single games at Chain O'Lakes Park in Winter Haven, Fla. Those games will open an 11-game Sunshine State schedule for SRU that includes a March 9 single-game at nationally-ranked Tampa.

Minnesota State was ranked ninth in the NCBWA national poll and 10th in the ABCA poll last week, while Tampa was ranked fourth by the coaches and fifth by the writers.

The Rock is scheduled to open its home schedule March 18 with 1 p.m. doubleheader vs. defending Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference champion California (Pa.).

Click here for the complete 2011 Rock baseball schedule.