SoCon Announces Weekly Baseball Awards

SPARTANBURG, SC – VMI senior Grayson Fitzwater was named SoCon Player of the Week and Western Carolina sophomore Carter Burnette was named SoCon Pitcher of the Week following games played from March 10 through March 15.

Fitzwater (Suffolk, VA / Nansemond River HS) extended his active hit streak to nine games last week, batting .583 (7-for-12) with a pair of home runs, three doubles, six RBI and five runs scored. The Keydets’ first baseman also swiped three bags and forged a robust .700 on base percentage – earning seven more walks over four games. Fitzwater walked three times in a midweek win at Norfolk State and took advantage of the strikes he saw to finish 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI. He followed with a 3-for-3 effort and a solo home run in the series opener vs. Cornell and closed out the series with a home run and three RBI in a 7-4 win. Fitzwater fielded a clean 1.000 over 32 chances at first base and powered his way to a 2.033 OPS for the week – his second week in a row in that stratosphere. He has hit safely in every game this month to date and has earned 14 walks over the past eight games.

Fitzwater is batting .409 so far this season with eight home runs, eight doubles, 28 RBI, and 23 runs scored in 20 games. He has struck out only 11 times and leads the SoCon with an .894 slugging percentage.

Burnette (Asheville, NC / Asheville HS) was terrific in a complete-game shutout of Morehead State. The righty fanned 10 batters, scattered three hits and did not issue a walk over a career-high 7.0 innings of work. He allowed only one extra base hit and needed only 78 pitches to complete the game.

Burnette is now 2-2 on the season with 33 strikeouts in 27.0 innings.

VMI (17-3) will play Radford in a three-game series this weekend, with the Saturday contest hosted in Lexington, VA. Radford will host the series’ Friday and Sunday games. Western Carolina (14-7) hosts Gardner-Webb on Wednesday afternoon before welcoming Samford to town on March 20-22 for both teams’ SoCon opening series.

Also nominated for Player of the Week: Jamie Palmese (ETSU), Aryan Patel (The Citadel), Brant Baughcum (Mercer), Tanner Berry (UNCG), Jake Souders (Samford), Wyatt Stanley (Western Carolina).

Also nominated for Pitcher of the Week: Cooper Jones (ETSU), Michael Gibson (The Citadel), Miguel Hugas (Mercer), Joseph Lee (Samford), Hunter Sipe (VMI).

2025-26 SoCon Player of the Week

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

Feb. 23 – Braydon Kersey, Jr., Mercer (DH/INF, Alpharetta, GA)

Mar 2 – Titan Kamaka, Sr., Mercer (SS, Orlando, FL)

Mar 9 – Grayson Fitzwater, Sr., VMI (1B, Suffolk, VA)

Mar 16 – Grayson Fitzwater, Sr., VMI (1B, Suffolk, VA)

2025-26 SoCon Pitcher of the Week

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

Feb. 23 – Michael Harpster, Jr., ETSU (RHP, Lynchburg, VA)

Mar 2 – Bryce Coulter, Jr., The Citadel (RHP, Sumter, SC)

Mar 9 – Mason Snyder, Jr., Western Carolina (RHP, Ocilla, GA)

Mar 16 – Carter Burnette, So., Western Carolina (RHP, Asheville, NC)