Pirates sweep weekly AAC honors

IRVING, Texas (ECU) – East Carolina sophomore Connor Norby and freshman Carson Whisenhunt have been named the American Athletic Conference Player and Pitcher-of-the-Week according to an announcement by the league office Monday. It marks the fourth time since the Pirates joined the conference that they swept the weekly awards and first since Jake Agnos and Alec Burleson in 2019.

Norby batted .412 (7-for-17) during the Pirates 4-0 week, which included a midweek win at Duke and a home weekend sweep of Charlotte. The Kernersville, N.C. native led the club in hits (seven), home runs (three), RBI (seven), total bases (16) and slugging (.941), while tying for second in runs scored (three). He tallied three multi-hit games, three game-winning RBI and extended his current on-base streak to 22 games. His three-run home run in the sixth frame against the Blue Devils broke a five-all tie, while his two-run blast in the seventh versus the 49ers led to a series win. On Sunday, he capped off the week with another game-winning hit (solo home run) in the third pushing his season total to four game-winning RBI.

Whisenhunt struck out nine batters over a career-best seven scoreless frames in the series win over Charlotte on Saturday improving to 3-0 on the season. In just his fourth start, he allowed three hits (all singles), walked two and pushed his seasonal strikeout total to 36. The Mocksville, N.C. native fanned multiple batters in the first, fifth, sixth and seventh frames while adding a solo punch out in the second. In all, he allowed just five runners to reach base and held the 49ers to a .136 composite batting average. Currently he sports a 1.19 ERA and has allowed three runs (all earned) on 12 hits in 22.2 innings with six walks. In 22 full frames of work, he has registered at least one punch out in 18 stanza’s and has multiple strikeouts 14 times.

The national leader in hits (31) and total bases (54), Norby also stands among the Top 25 nationally in hits per game (fifth/2.07), home runs (11th/six), batting average (13th/.484), RBI (25th/19) and slugging percentage (25th/.844). Whisenhunt enters the week ranking fifth nationally in strikeouts and eighth in victories.

With their selections, it marks the fourth consecutive week this season a Pirate has earned AAC weekly accolades following Josh Moylan (player/March 1), Norby (honor roll/Feb. 22 and March 8) and Whisenhunt (honor roll/Feb. 2 and March 1). Whisenhunt has also been named a National Player-of-the-Week by Collegiate Baseball (Feb. 22) and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association National Pitcher-of-the-Month for February.

No. 9 ECU (13-2) returns to action on Wednesday, March 17 when it travels to UNCW (10-3) for a midweek matchup. First pitch at Brooks Field is slated for 6 p.m. (ET) and will be streamed on FloSports.com.