CHICAGO – UIC's Tanner Shears has been named the Horizon League Pitcher of the Week, the League office announce Tuesday (April 19).
 
The first weekly honor of Shears' career comes after a weekend in which Shears converted on a pair save opportunities, helping UIC secure the series win over league-leading Wright State.
 
In Game 1 of UIC's series against Wright State, Shears entered the game in the eighth inning with an 8-6 lead. Shears allowed a one-out single before inducing a double play ball to send the game into the ninth where Shers worked a 1-2-3 frame to collect the save. In Sunday's rubber game of the series, Shears came on in the 10th inning after the Flames took a slim 6-5 lead in extra innings. The righty worked around a pair of base runners to close out the game and earn his second save of the weekend.
 
For the weekend, Shears worked three innings while not allowing a run. The native of Riverbank, California, allowed just one hit and issued one walk while striking out three batters en route to a pair of saves. Wright State hitters were held to just a .111 batting average against Shears as UIC moved into third place in the Horizon League standings with the series win.
 
Shears leads the team and ranks second in the Horizon League with five saves on the season. The righty has gone a perfect 5-for-5 in save opportunities, with all five saves coming since the calendar turned to April. Since the start of Horizon League play on March 18, Shears has a 0.71 ERA, allowing just one earned run in 12.2 innings of work. Shears has struck out 18 batters during that span while allowing just four hits and four walks.
 
UIC returns to action Tuesday evening, playing host to Purdue in midweek action. First pitch at Granderson Stadium is set for 6:05 p.m.