BATON ROUGE -- For the second time in three weeks, an LSU pitcher has been named the Southeastern Conference's Pitcher of the Week, as sophomore right-hander Brian Wilson was honored by the conference office on Monday. Wilson, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound New Hampshire native, pitched the best game of his career on Saturday, firing a three-hit shutout against Arkansas in his first career complete game. Wilson did not allow any Razorback runner to reach third base and tied a career high with eight strikeouts as LSU cruised to an 8-0 victory and an eventual three-game sweep that improved the Fighting Tigers to 30-15 overall and 12-8 in the SEC. Wilson combined with sophomore left-hander Lane Mestepey to become the first two LSU pitchers to throw back-to-back complete game shutouts of nine innings. Mestepey threw a four-hitter in the Tigers' 3-0 win over Arkansas on Friday. Wilson had struck out eight in an April 20 loss at South Carolina, but his previous high fro innings pitched was 7.0, done last year against New Orleans and this April 13 against Georgia. Wilson started the year off as the Tigers' closer, but moved to the starting rotation prior to the Georgia series. In his three starts, Wilson is 2-1 with a 1.25 ERA, compared to 4-2 with a 4.01 ERA. For the season, Wilson is 6-3 with a 2.72 ERA, the best ERA on the Tiger staff among qualifying pitchers, and his six wins are second on the staff to Mestepey's nine. Wilson is the second pitcher and third player to be honored by the SEC this year. Junior right-hander Bo Pettit won Pitcher of the Week honors on April 15 after wins over Tulane and Georgia the previous week, while outfielder Sean Barker won the first position Player of the Week honor this year on Feb. 11. Wilson is scheduled to be in the Tigers' rotation on Saturday when LSU faces Tennessee in the second game of a three-game set at Knoxville. LSU is back in action on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. when they take on New Orleans at Zephyr Field in Metairie.
