IRVING, Texas (May 1, 2017) -- FIU freshman pitcher Shannon Saile (Land O'Lakes, Florida / Land O'Lakes HS) was named Conference USA Pitcher of the Week, the league announced Monday. Saile is the only three-time winner of either C-USA Player or Pitcher of the Week this season, with one round of awards to be handed out after the final weekend of play this week.  
                                                                                                                                        
Saile was involved in all three FIU wins as the Panthers swept visiting WKU over the weekend. The rookie earned two wins and a save in the series as the Panthers became the first team in Conference USA to get their 40^th victory, which they did in the series finale Sunday.
 
In the series-opening game Saturday, Saile tied the league single-game strikeout total by fanning 14 Lady Tops in the one-hit shutout. She is the fourth C-USA pitcher to reach 14 punchouts in a game this season. Saile allowed one hit batter in the first and an infield bunt single in front of the plate in the fourth, but a caught stealing meant she faced one more than the minimum. She struck out eight of the first 11 batters in the contest.
 
In game two of the twinbill, Saile was put in with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth inning with the Panthers leading 3-1. She struck out the next two hitters, both looking, the latter on a 3-2 count. She tossed a scoreless seventh for the save, her third of the season.
 
Sunday, a pair of errors allowed two unearned runs, but Saile struck out nine in the complete-game effort, allowing just two hits and two walks, pushing her weekend strikeout total to 25.
 
In 15.2 innings pitched for the weekend, she gave up three hits, two walks and two hit batters, holding WKU to an .063 batting average.
 
In her last six season appearances (five starts, one relief), Saile has not allowed an earned run, earning a 5-0 record (4-0 in C-USA, with wins over Marshall, Charlotte and two over WKU), with 42 strikeouts and eight walks in 34.2 innings, giving up just 10 hits and two hit batters, and holding teams to a batting average of .090.
 
The two complete games pushed her season total to 19, four away from the FIU single-season record, and Saturday's 3-0 win pushed her shutout total to seven, one away from tying the program single-season record. With her 25 weekend strikeouts, Saile jumped from 10^th to fifth at FIU for the single-season record. She has 195, and is on pace to become the third Panther ever to strike out 200 in a season.
 
Saile lowered her team-best ERA to 1.55 and also leads FIU with 15 wins. Her opponent batting average is .145 to help pace the league's lowest team ERA (1.82). She previously won C-USA Pitcher of the Week March 13 and March 27.
 
The Panthers host West Division-leading LA Tech this weekend to close out the regular season. The series starts with a Friday doubleheader at 2 p.m., with a noon Saturday finale. Senior Day ceremonies will be held on the field prior to the Saturday regular-season finale.

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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including Lime Court at FIU Arena and at Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.