INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s James Hertel (Hillsboro, Ill.) is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week.

Hertel, a senior righthander for the Cougars, capped a sweep of Missouri-Rolla for his team over the weekend with a nine-inning complete-game shutout on Mar. 18.

In the 1-0 victory, Hertel allowed just one hit and surrendered one walk. He struck out five in the contest and lowered his earned run average to 1.59 on the year.

He is 1-0 this season in three appearances. Hertel has struck out nine and walked four in 17 innings of work.

His efforts have helped the Cougars post a league-best 1.80 ERA this season. SIU Edwardsville (10-4, 6-2 GLVC) has won four straight and six of its last seven games to move into a tie for first place in the league standings with Drury University.

The Cougars will host Quincy on Mar. 20 in their next contest.

Other top performances in the GLVC last week included Bellarmine’s Michael Thompson, Drury’s Blake Evans, Kentucky Wesleyan’s Michael Ruby, Northern Kentucky’s Matt Marksbury, Quincy’s Jared Alexander, Rockhurst’s Ryan Morgan, Saint Joseph’s Matt Enderle, UIndy’s Scott Zielaskiewicz, Missouri-St. Louis’ Cole Williams and Southern Indiana’s Jeremy Kehrt.