Baseball Southern Conference

WCU?s Smith, Furman?s Schuermann Earn Baseball Honors

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Western Carolina designated hitter Matt Smith and Furman left-hander Grant Schuermann have been named the Southern Conference player and pitcher of the week, respectively, for all games April 6-12. The selections are made by the league office.

Smith hit a staggering .818 in the Catamounts’ three-game series at first-place Mercer over the weekend, going 9-for-11 with a double and a home run. He scored four runs and had three RBIs, two stolen bases and three walks, one of which was intentional. Smith slugged 1.182 on the week.

The Fredericktown, Ohio, native opened his weekend with a 4-for-5 showing Friday in which he had one RBI, a stolen base and two runs scored. Smith followed that up with a 3-for-4 effort Saturday, turning in a double, an RBI, a stolen base and a run scored. He capped his week with another big game, reaching base five times on a single, a homer and three walks.

Western Carolina (15-16, 7-5 SoCon) has a pair of midweek games against Clemson and Tennessee Tech before hosting Furman (15-19, 5-7 SoCon) for a three-game set over the weekend.

Also nominated: Connor Walsh (The Citadel), Trey York (ETSU), Alex Lee (Samford), Jordan Tarsovich (VMI) and Carson Waln (Wofford).

Schuermann threw seven shutout innings in Saturday’s 10-0 win at UNCG, allowing just seven hits and not walking a batter. He struck out four on the day. The freshman from Cincinnati, Ohio, stranded runners in each inning to keep the Spartans off the board.

With the win, Schuermann improved to 3-1 on the season. He has struck out 20 batters and walked just 10 in 36 1/3 innings of work.

Furman hosts USC Upstate on Tuesday at 6 p.m. before heading to Cullowhee, N.C., for the weekend series with Western Carolina.

Also nominated: Jimmy Nesselt (ETSU), Morgan Pittman (Mercer), Alex Ledford (Samford), Bryan Samford (Western Carolina) and Matthew Milburn (Wofford).

2015 SoCon Players of the Week
Feb. 16    Trey York, ETSU
Feb. 23    Damon Waller, Samford
March 2    Trey York, ETSU
March 9    Zac MacAneney, UNCG
March 16    Kevin Phillips, ETSU
March 23    Kyle Lewis, Mercer
March 30    Austin Edens, Samford
April 6    Conor Clancey, Wofford
April 13    Matt Smith, Western Carolina

2015 SoCon Pitchers of the Week
Feb. 16    B.J. Nobles, Western Carolina
Feb. 23    Ryan Askew, Mercer
March 2    Adam Scott, Wofford
March 9    Eric Nyquist, Mercer
March 16    Luke Leftwich, Wofford
March 23    Eric Nyquist, Mercer
March 30    Grant Papelian, Mercer
April 6    James Reeves, The Citadel
April 13    Grant Schuermann, Furman

-www.SoConSports.com-