Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina junior transfer shortstop
Trent Turner was among the top 100 shortstops in the country announced this week as the watch list for the 2024 Brooks Wallace Award was unveiled.
Turner is one of seven shortstops in the Southern Conference to grace the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List. He is joined by Aiden Brewer (UNCG), Bradley Frye (Mercer), Garrett Howe (Samford), Arayen Patel (The Citadel), Jack Renwick (Wofford), and Ty Swain (VMI).
A product of Waynesville, N.C., and a transfer from USC Union, Turner has started all 38 games to date for the Catamounts – the only player on the roster to have started every game thus far. To date, he is batting .302 with a team-best 51 base hits coming on a SoCon leading 169 at-bats. A combined 18 of his hits have gone for extra bases including 11 doubles and seven home runs, while scoring 36 runs with 33 RBI, third on the WCU squad.
In the field, Turner enters the week with 109 assists – second in the SoCon – and has been a part of turning 33 double plays, the most by an individual in the league to date. As a team, the Catamounts have turned a SoCon-best 43 double plays, tied for the second-most in the NCAA this season while the squad's 1.13 double-plays per game average leads the nation.
Presented by the College Baseball Foundation, the Brooks Wallace Award honors the nation's top shortstop, honoring both outstanding defensive play as much as it does production at the plate. The award is named for former Texas Tech shortstop Brooks Wallace, who played for the Red Raiders from 1977-1980. Wallace died of leukemia at the age of 27.
"The Brooks Wallace Award is wide open this season with 27 conferences represented in our initial top 100 watch list," said Tom Quigley, Brooks Wallace Award co-chair. "We have quite a few solid hitters and some heavy hitters as well."
For more information on the Wallace Award or the Night of Champions event, visit
www.collegebaseballhall.org.
Western Carolina (21-17, 6-6 SoCon) heads to the Palmetto State this weekend in Southern Conference play to face the Wofford Terriers (27-11, 7-4 SoCon). The three-game league set gets underway at Russell C. King Field on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and continues Saturday at 2 p.m. before concluding Sunday at 1 p.m. Each game is slated to be broadcast on ESPN+ (
paid subscription required) with live stats available online at CatamountSports.com.
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