Souhegan grad Alec Burns delivers for Gardner-Webb
Apr. 5—If you need a big hit late in a game, you could do worse than send Alec Burns to the plate.
Burns, who attended Souhegan High School, has thrived in pressure situations during his college baseball career, first at the University of West Virginia and more recently at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. He hit a walk-off home run to give Gardner-Webb a 4-3 victory over Radford on Sunday, and also hit a two-run home run that handed Gardner-Webb a 4-3 triumph over Longwood in March.
"He's definitely performed his best late in the game," Gardner-Webb coach Jim Chester said. "Last year, he had a walk-off hit against Brown and then he had a walk-off home run against Presbyterian. He's already got these two walk-off home runs.
"He's really shown up and dialed it in late in the game. Fortunately for us, it's helped us win some key baseball games. Both of those walk-offs (this season) secured sweeps, which are huge. Really grateful he's put together some great at-bats in those time frames."
Burns, a 6-foot-4 first baseman, said he tries to treat pressure situations at the plate the same as he does every other at-bat.
"I don't remember the games, but I definitely had a couple walk-offs in high school," he said. "My first collegiate home run was versus TCU, I believe, and that was a go-ahead home run.
"It seems like those situations kind of find me. I try to stay the same and not put too much pressure on myself. The game is already hard enough. It's just another at-bat and I'm trying to do a job for the team and contribute in that way.
"(Power has) definitely helped me out throughout my career, for sure."
Burns helped Souhegan defeat Portsmouth in the Division II championship game during his sophomore season. He began his collegiate baseball career at West Virginia, but after graduation looked for another baseball program where he could be a regular in the lineup and entered the transfer portal.
Chester, who spent the 2014 season on the Keene Swamp Bats coaching staff, said a scout in the Pittsburgh area recommended Burns to him. Burns transferred to Gardner-Webb in January 2022.
"I could have stayed there (West Virginia)," Burns said. "I just thought for my career it was definitely the best decision. I took a lot of experiences from West Virginia, but at that point I really just wanted to play baseball and be an everyday guy and prove wherever I was playing that I was that guy that I knew I could be.
"So happy I made this decision. Probably the best decision I could make."
Burns hit .311 with 15 home runs in 52 games for Gardner-Webb last season, when he made one error in 349 fielding opportunities. He was named the preseason Big South Player of the Year by D1Baseball.com before the start of the 2023 season.
Entering Thursday's game against UNC Asheville, Burns was hitting .253 (23-for-91) in 27 games, all starts. He had five home runs, eight doubles and 25 RBIs with 44 strikeouts.
"He's got plus power," Chester said. "It's wild when I tell you this because you can see he's got some elevated strikeout numbers, but he takes great at-bats. He gets deep in counts. His walks and hit by pitches are some of the higher ones on our team. Some of the strikeouts are part of his game, but also the late-game heroics, the power and the quality at-bat is definitely a piece too. You have to really dig deep on his numbers to see how effective he is.
"When he hits it, he hits it hard, and a lot of times he hits it far."
Burns has another year of athletic eligibility remaining, and said he plans to use it next season.
"Great student, great kid and an asset to the program," Chester said. "We're excited that he's on our side."
