Jared Burton is chosen by A's in Major League Baseball draft

Burton, who is from Westminster, S.C., showed marked improvement over his career. His ERA dropped from 8.01 as a freshman, to 5.01 as a sophomore and to 3.76 this season. His strikeout numbers increased from 40 in 48.1 innings as a freshman, to 67 in 93.1 innings as a sophomore and 105 in 103 innings this past season.

Burton tied for the team lead with seven wins, and he paced the Catamounts in ERA, strikeouts, innings pitched and holding opponents to a .256 batting average. He walked 31 to go along with his 105 K's for a 3.39 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

According to "Baseball America," Burton caught the attention of scouts "by excelling in outings against ACC powers Georgia Tech, Florida State and Clemson." Burton struck out seven Seminoles in six innings as WCU fell 3-0 to top-ranked FSU. Against number four Georgia Tech, he fanned two in just one inning's work. He capped the regular-season with an impressive outing against Clemson, which was ranked first nationally at the time. He gave up four runs in the first two innings, but allowed the Cats to tie the game at 4-4 through 7.2 innings as he retired 19 of 20 batters during one stretch. He ended up striking out seven Tigers in 8.2 innings.

Burton had a dominating performance on March 8 when he threw a complete game shutout at UNC-Greensboro. He allowed three hits and no Spartan advanced past second base. He struck out 10 while walking one and was named Southern Conference Pitcher of the Week.

The following week, Burton fanned 10 with one walk in a win over Wofford. He equalled the feat with 10 K's at Davidson. In back-to-back outings against Virginia Military and East Tennessee, Burton did not allow a run in 13 innings as he surrendered seven hits with 13 strikeouts.

Burton ranked second in the conference in strikeouts. He is 10th on WCU's career strikeout list with 212 and ninth on the school's career list for innings pitched with 244.2.

Back to Sports: 06/13/02.