Three University of Arkansas-Fort Smith student-athletes have earned Heartland Conference Player of the Week honors for their performances this past week.

            Baseball players Taylor Shaddy and Jordan May and women’s tennis player Amy Belanger each earned the prestigious honor for their respective sports.

            Shaddy, a 6-foot redshirt freshman pitcher, made his UA Fort Smith debut after redshirting his first season and then earning a medical redshirt this past season.

            The southpaw allowed just one earned run on two hits (both singles), walked three and struck out three in seven strong innings, leading the Lions to an 8-1 win against Heartland Conference favorite St. Mary’s University.

            May, a junior right fielder, batted .500 (7 for 14) with two doubles, seven RBI and three runs scored and drew one walk. He compiled a .643 slugging percentage and a .533 on-base percentage and stole one base. He had nine putouts and compiled a 1.000 fielding percentage.

            The performance by the duo helped the Lions (2-1) win the three-game series 2-1 against the Rattlers (4-3), who were picked to win the conference and are ranked No. 15 in the nation and No. 4 in the South Central Region Preseason Poll.

            Belanger, a freshman, finished 5-1 overall last week during UA Fort Smith’s three matches, which included wins against NCAA Division I UA Pine Bluff (9-0) and Division II East Central (9-0) and a loss to No. 8-ranked NAIA Oklahoma Christian University (6-3).

            She was 2-0 while playing No. 3 singles and 1-0 while playing No. 4 singles. She was 1-0 while playing No. 1 doubles and 1-1 while playing No. 2 doubles.