Baseball Southern Conference

Wofford?s Plaisted, Furman?s Quarles Earn Weekly SoCon honors

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Wofford outfielder James Plaisted and Furman right-hander Matthew Quarles have been named the Southern Conference player and pitcher of the week, respectively, for all games April 20-26. The selections are made by the league office.

Plaisted hit .533 with four doubles, a home run, six RBIs and seven runs scored on the week as the Terriers took a series from league-leading Samford over the weekend. He slugged 1.000 and had an on-base percentage of .611 in four games.

In Wednesday’s contest at crosstown rival USC Upstate, the senior from Tullahoma, Tenn., went 3-for-4 with a walk, three RBIs and three runs scored, falling a triple short of the cycle in the 10-7 loss.

In Friday’s 8-3 loss to Samford, Plaisted was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. He went 2-for-4 with a run scored, an RBI single and an RBI double in Saturday’s 5-2 Wofford win and closed out the series with a walk, two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored as the Terriers claimed the rubber game, 12-9.

Wofford (30-15, 8-6 SoCon), which reached the 30-win mark for just the fourth time in school history and in consecutive seasons for the first time, returns to action Friday to open a three-game series at UNCG (19-20, 10-8 SoCon).

Also nominated: Jordan Sanford (ETSU), Kyle Lewis (Mercer), Eric Kalbfleisch (UNCG), Hunter Swilling (Samford) and Tyler Tharp (VMI).

Quarles allowed just one run on two hits in seven innings in the Paladins’ 2-1 win over No. 27 South Carolina on Tuesday. The sophomore from Greenwood, S.C., making just his second start of the season, struck out a career-high seven against just one walk.

Quarles (4-1), who threw 55 strikes amongst his 86 pitches, improved to 3-0 in his career at Fluor Field.

Furman (19-24, 7-8 SoCon) heads to Rock Hill, S.C., on Tuesday for a contest at Winthrop before welcoming ETSU (16-27, 5-10) for a three-game conference set at Latham Stadium.

Also nominated: Griffin Krieg (ETSU), Mitchell Wade (Mercer), Alex Ledford (Samford), Taylor Edens (VMI) and Will Stillman (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
April 20    Austin Edens, Samford
April 27    James Plaisted, Wofford

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
April 20    Ryan Clark, UNCG
April 27    Matthew Quarles, Furman

-www.SoConSports.com-