SoCon Announces Baseball Honors Following Opening Weekend

SPARTANBURG, SC – Samford junior Andrew Marble was named SoCon Pitcher of the Week and Western Carolina redshirt sophomore Noah Quarless was named SoCon Player of the Week following the opening weekend of baseball around the league.

Marble (Hurley, MS / East Central HS) was strong in his first start of the season for the Bulldogs, hurling 5.1 shutout innings with only one hit allowed. The righthander fanned four batters and walked one, limiting Belmont to an .059 batting average in a 10-1 victory. Samford took two of three in the series against the Bruins. He retired the first nine batters he faced before allowing a single in the top of the fourth. He recovered with another strikeout and got out of the inning unscathed. Marble retired the final five batters he faced before exiting with one out in the sixth.

Quarless (Winston-Salem, NC / Reagan HS) leaned on the dramatic to power Western Carolina’s sweep of George Washington in Cullowhee. The Catamounts’ catcher delivered two walk-off hits in the series. He drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the opener and delivered a walk-off home run to complete a 7-5 comeback win. Came on as a pinch hitter in the finale, driving in the winning run on a walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth. Quarless finished the week with a .600 batting average, a .600 on base percentage and a 2.000 OPS with two sacrifice flies, three walks, three runs scored, and five RBI. He also threw out a runner with a nice throw in the opener.

Samford (2-1) hosts Alabama in a midweek contest on Tuesday, February 17. Western Carolina (3-0) travels to USC Upstate on Tuesday.

Also nominated for Pitcher of the Week: Carter Oliff (ETSU), Alec Bouchard (Wofford), Carter Burnette (Western Carolina), Collin Ewaldsen (Mercer), Peyton Dhein (VMI).

Also nominated for Player of the Week: Cole Cook (VMI), Harrison Campi (Wofford), Henry Ferguson (ETSU, Luke Boykin (Samford), Chris Katz (Mercer).

2025-26 SoCon Pitcher of the Week

Feb. 16 – Andrew Marble, Jr., Samford (RHP, Hurley, MS)

2025-26 SoCon Player of the Week

Feb. 16 – Noah Quarless, R-So., Western Carolina (C, Winston-Salem, NC)