Burleson Named to Preseason Stopper-Of-The-Year Watch List | Eastern NC Now

Publisher's note: This post appears here courtesy of the news and information section for East Carolina University men's and women's sports.


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    GREENVILLE, N.C.     East Carolina junior Alec Burleson is one of 70 players named to the initial Watch List for the 16th Annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Stopper-of-the-Year Award, given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I Baseball, the association announced Monday.

    Burleson, who was named to five All-America squads in 2019, is regarded as one of the top two-way players in the country after being named a finalist for the 2019 John Olerud National Player-of-the-Year Award. The Denver, N.C. native led the Pirates outright in eight offensive categories including batting average (.370), doubles (23), hits (91), RBI (61) and multi-hit games (23), while sharing the team lead in multi-RBI contests (16) and fielding percentage (1.000). He slugged at a .573 clip to stand second on the club and belted nine homers to rank third.

    On the mound, he appeared in 24 games making nine starts where he owned a 6-2 ledger with five saves and a 3.28 ERA. Burleson earned his 11th career win against Campbell in an elimination game on June 3 in the 2019 Greenville Regional after working five innings. He fanned 68 batters while walking 26 and struck out a career-high 10 batters against Monmouth on Feb. 23. The lefty allowed 22 runs (all earned) on 56 hits in 60.1 innings and held opposing hitters to a composite .246 average. In the classroom, he is a six-time ECU Director of Athletic Honor member, a 2018 AAC All-Academic selection and was a 2019 Third-Team Google Cloud Academic All-American who boasts a 3.959 cumulative GPA as a business management major.

    During the summer, Burleson played for the USA Collegiate National Team helping the Red, White and Blue to an 8-6 overall record which included series wins over Chinese Taipei and Cuba. He appeared in eight games making four starts in the field where he batted .267 (4-for-15) with a home run and three RBI. His lone home run, a solo walk-off blast in the bottom of the ninth, lifted USA to a 3-2 victory over Japan. On the mound, he sported a 2.53 ERA in three outings striking out eight in 10.2 innings.

    Burleson's 2020 Preseason Honors

• First-Team All-America (Collegiate Baseball)
• First-Team All-America (D1Baseball)
• First-Team All-America (NCBWA)
• First-Team All-America (Perfect Game)
• Stopper-of-the-Year Watch List (NCBWA)
• Preseason American Athletic Conference Player-of-the-Year
• Preseason First-Team All-AAC (LHP/OF)
• Preseason American Athletic Conference Player-of-the-Year (Baseball America)
• Preseason American Athletic Conference Player-of-the-Year (D1Baseball)
• Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award nominee

    Season tickets are officially on sale with packages starting as low as $120. Pirate fans have seven different options to choose from and can purchase their 2020 tickets by utilizing ECU's Online Ticket Center or by contacting the ECU Athletic Ticket Office at (252) 737-4500.

    Ticket Options     Chair Back with Seat Rights - $200     Chair Back Upgrade (must have Pirate Club approval) - $400     Regular Reserved Bench - $200     Faculty/Staff Reserved Bench - $160     Senior Citizen Reserved Bench - $160     Young Grad Reserved Bench - $120     Economy Plan (Section 201/202 & Jungle) - $120

    Burleson and the Pirates are set to open the 2020 season at home playing host to William & Mary on Friday, Feb. 14 with a 4 p.m. (EST) scheduled first pitch.