Cullowhee, N.C. — Western Carolina sophomore right-hander Carter Burnette earned Southern Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week honors today for his dominant role in WCU's 11-0 victory over Morehead State on Friday, capping a 4-1 week for the Catamounts. His performance was a strong comeback after WCU dropped the series opener the previous day.
It's the second-straight week that a Catamount pitcher has collected the SoCon's weekly award, joining RHP Mason Snyder, who was named the SoCon Pitcher of the Week back on March 9. The two pitcher awards to date are the most in a single season for the Catamount staff since 2021, when Zebby Matthews was honored three times, and Zach Franklin earned an early May award.
 
Burnette's recognition is WCU's third weekly accolade this season, joining battery-mate Noah Quarless, who earned the top player award on Feb. 16. Selections are made by the conference office from nominations submitted by the media relations or communications staff of each member school.
 
Burnette had one of the most dominant pitching performances for the Catamounts this year as the Asheville, N.C., product scattered three hits over a career-long seven innings in Friday's 11-0 blanking of Morehead State. He struck out a career-high 10 and held the Eagles to just one extra-base hit, and just one runner reached second base. Morehead State, which entered the weekend batting over .300 as a team to begin the series, was held to a .136 average against Burnette.
 
On the season, Burnette has a team-high 33 strikeouts to rank second in the SoCon, 26 of which have been swinging with seven strikeouts looking. He has a collective ERA of 4.00 across 27.0 innings pitched over five starts with a 2-2 seasonal record.

WCU's shutout victory on Friday was the team's fourth of the season, the most for a Catamount baseball team since blanking five in 2011. The win helped Western Carolina post a 4-1 week, including road wins at Sun Belt foe Appalachian State, and the Catamounts took 3-of-4 from OVC foe Morehead State.
 
Teammate Wyatt Stanley was nominated for the SoCon Player of the Week honor after collecting hits in all five weekly games, batting .444 (8-for-18) with three extra-base hits for an .833 slugging percentage. Stanley scored seven runs and drove in a team-high seven, including the game-winning run in the eighth inning of Sunday's series finale (8-7 win). He added five walks and was plunked twice for a team-best .600 on-base percentage. An honorable mention goes to WCU pitcher Bryant Kimbrell, who went 2-0 last week with victories at Appalachian State and Morehead State on Sunday.
 
Western Carolina (14-7) returns to action on Wednesday, March 18, in a rescheduled meeting with Gardner-Webb in the front end of a nonconference home-and-home with the Runnin' Bulldogs. The game was moved from Tuesday to Wednesday based on unfavorable temperature forecasts, with first pitch at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium scheduled for 3 p.m. Coverage of Wednesday's game will be provided through the Catamount Sports Network, with live streaming audio online at CatamountSports.com.
 
WCU concludes its eight-game homestand this weekend, opening Southern Conference play against league preseason favorite Samford with a three-game set in Cullowhee. Friday's game begins at 5 p.m., with a special replica jersey giveaway for WCU students, courtesy of The Everson, and Saturday is billed as "Little League and Scout Day" at the ballpark, presented by Todd Baucom Realty.
 
Friday and Sunday are scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with audio available on the Catamount Sports Network for Saturday's game.
 
Wednesday's game opens a string of eight-straight games against "Bulldogs" as WCU faces the Runnin' Bulldogs of Gardner-Webb, the Samford Bulldogs, the mountain-rival UNC Asheville Bulldogs, before traveling to Charleston, S.C., against The Citadel Bulldogs.
 
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