Wofford's Eck Gets SoCon Honor

By: Wofford Athletics | WSPA-TV
Published: February 21, 2012

Spartanburg, SC --

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Wofford sophomore Eric Eck has been named the Southern Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week while Samford senior Saxon Butler has been named the Southern Conference Baseball Player of the Week from the opening weekend of the 2012 baseball season.

Eck entered Saturday’s game against Dayton in the seventh inning with runners on the corners and the score tied at five. The sophomore right-hander from Buford, Ga., recorded a strike out to end the threat then followed that with four scoreless frames to pick up the win for the Terriers. Eck allowed just one hit in 4.1 innings while fanning seven of the 14 Dayton batters he faced, including five of them on called third strikes.

Butler was nearly perfect at the plate, batting .900 (9-for-10) for the opening weekend of the season. He hit two home runs, two doubles and drove in four runs in leading Samford to a series win over Radford. In the first game of the series, the first baseman went 4-for-4 at the plate while scoring twice. In game two, he was 2-for-3 with a home run, a double and two RBI. Butler went 3-for-3 with a double, a home run and two RBI in Sunday’s series finale. For the weekend, the Oxford, Ala., native reached base at a .923 clip while notching a 1.700 slugging percentage.

Other hitters receiving consideration were Daniel Kassouf (Appalachian State), Marty Gantt (College of Charleston), Drew Gadaire (Davidson), Sebastian Gomez (Elon), Will Miller (Furman), Michael Burruss (Georgia Southern), Kris Richards (UNCG), Jacob Hoyle (Western Carolina) and Stephen Cantrell (Wofford).

Other top performers among pitchers were Seth Grant (Appalachian State), Christian Powell (College of Charleston), Clark Beeker (Davidson), Kyle Webb (Elon), Chris Beck (Georgia Southern), Tyler Hollstegge (UNCG), Kyle Putkonen (Samford) and Morgan McKinney (Western Carolina).

The Terriers will play at Gardner-Webb on Wednesday afternoon before hosting Pittsburgh for a weekend series beginning on Friday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.