ECU's Burleson repeats as AAC Player of the Week

ECU sophomore Alec Burleson has been named the American Athletic Conference Player-of-the-Week for the second week in a row and third time this season the league office announced Monday afternoon.

The Denver, N.C. native hit at a .400 clip (6-for-15) with a double, seven RBI and two runs scored in the Pirates’ 3-1 week, which included a win at No. 12 UNC and a series win at Wichita State. He collected a hit in all four games pushing his current hit streak to a personal-best nine games and drove in at least one run in three of four games. Against the Tar Heels, he plated a pair of runs with an infield single and a sac fly. In ECU’s regular season conference title-clinching win Friday at Wichita State, Burleson went 3-for-4 with four RBI and registered his fourth game-winning RBI of the season with a two-run single in the second inning. Over the final two games against the Shockers, he tallied a pair of hits, plated a run and scored once. In all, he reached base seven times (five singles, one double, one walk) on the week and pushed his multi-game hit total to a team-best 23 contests.

On the mound, Burleson worked 4.2 innings where he allowed a run (earned) on three hits with a par of walks and five strikeouts for a 1.93 ERA in two outings. In his start against the Tar Heels, he collected his fifth win of the year working four innings with four punch outs. On Sunday, he came out of the bullpen and faced three batters where he gave up a hit, got a ground out and struck out one to preserve the Pirates’ seventh-straight American series win.

With the Burleson’s honor, it marks the 15th time this season a Pirate has earned AAC weekly accolades following Jake Agnos (pitcher/Feb. 25; pitcher/April 1; pitcher/April 22), Turner Brown (honor roll/March 11), Spencer Brickhouse (player/March 25), Burleson (honor roll/Feb. 18; player/Feb. 25; honor roll/April 1, player/May 6, player/May 13), Jake Kuchmaner (pitcher/March 11; pitcher/March 18, honor roll/April 29), Bryant Packard (player/April 29) and Jake Washer (honor roll/April 22).

No. 7 ECU (39-12) returns to action on Tuesday, May 14 when it plays host to Campbell (29-18) at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium with a 6:30 p.m. (ET) scheduled first pitch.