Cameron Burleyson, SAC baseball academic award winner
By Mike London
Salisbury Post
SALISBURY – Carson graduate Cameron Burleyson has been called on to start only 19 games in three seasons for Catawba’s baseball program, but he has no regrets about his choice of colleges.
“My goal was always to work hard enough to start every single game, but things don’t always work out like you want them to,” Burleyson said. “I made up my mind a long time ago that every time I played I would give everything I had. And every time I didn’t play, I still would give everything I had as far as being a good teammate. I’m proud of what I’ve been able to contribute to the team.”
Burleyson is content with his role, as Catawba prepares to play Francis Marion in a Thursday-through-Saturday, best-of-three Super Regional at Newman Park, with a D-II World Series trip to Cary on the line.
“Six years ago, I was a little high school freshman with a bad arm,” Burleyson said. “So I’m not going to complain about how things turned out.”
Burleyson has played in a lot of victories. He’s caught the pitches of his younger cousin, closer Joe Burleyson, at Catawba and he’s also caught pitches thrown by some of his best friends. He’s been at the bottom of dogpiles after championships. He’s produced clutch hits that helped beat nationally ranked teams.
Best of all, he has graduated in just three years with a challenging degree in exercise science. He recently was honored as the South Atlantic Conference baseball player with the highest GPA. Officially, his GPA was 3.98. He graduated with highest honors, so while he wasn’t perfect in the classroom, he was pretty darn close.
“I always looked at myself as a student-athlete,” Burleyson said. “I showed up for class and got the work turned in on time, and if you do those two things, you’ve got a chance to make good grades. As a college athlete, you don’t have the free time that a regular student does, but you learn to manage the time that you do have. The most difficult course I had at Catawba was kinesiology, a big part of my major. We had this long essay that I worked really hard on. I got a ‘100’ on it. That was the ‘A’ I was proudest of.”
Burleyson became a catcher a long time ago. His primary position was first base in youth travel ball, but there was a tournament in which his team’s starting catcher wasn’t there, so Burleyson grabbed a mitt, put on the mask and strapped on the shin guards and chest protector. Since that day, Burleyson never has wanted to be anything other than a catcher. He found a position he’s passionate about. At 5-foot-10, he’s not exceptionally big or powerful at the plate, but a high percentage of catching is defense.
“I loved being able to control the game and I enjoyed building a relationship with my pitcher, making a connection with him and helping him work through a lineup,” Burleyson said. “I’ve got a strong enough arm for the position, but what I do best are the things that don’t get noticed — blocking balls and receiving and framing pitches.”
College baseball seemed like a far-off dream for Burleyson in the COVID days. His freshman high school spring at Carson was 2020, the season that got completely aborted by COVID after a handful of games. He didn’t play for a while and when he resumed throwing, he blew out his right elbow. His UCL joint completely detached from the bone.
Tommy John surgery, common for pitchers, but uncommon for catchers, was next for Burleyson. COVID made a contribution to his comeback, as it delayed his sophomore high school season. Baseball practice didn’t start until mid-April in 2021, and Burleyson was ready to play that half-season.
Catching proved to be the ideal position for Burleyson, whose arm came back stronger after the TJ surgery. Catching opened doors for him. Being an exceptional defensive catcher led to a chance to play at the D-II level, and Catawba (45-11) is about as good as gets in D-II.
As a junior, Burleyson returned to full strength athletically. He was an all-county and all-conference basketball player for Carson before reporting for baseball.
Catawba coaches liked what they saw of Burleyson, and he signed in the fall of his senior year with the Indians alongside his friend and battery-mate Hayden Simmerson. The duo graduated from Carson in the spring of 2023.
Burleyson had hopes of competing for the starting catching job at Catawba as a freshman in 2024, but Bo Rusher, a Salisbury High product who had four years of experience at D-I Gardner-Webb (Rusher caught MLB fireballer Mason Miller in Boiling Springs) had transferred to Catawba for his final season of eligibility. Rusher’s motives were commendable. He wanted to make it possible for his grandparents to watch him play at Newman Park. Rusher was a grown man who could hit the ball out of the parl, so Burleyson only got nine starts that season.
Simmerson became Catawba’s closer that spring. Burleyson embraced the role of coming into catch late in games when Simmerson came in to pitch. Catawba coaches loved the connection the long-time pals had.
“Hayden and I were almost always on the same page,” Burleyson said. “People used to say we understood each other so well that we didn’t need any signs. The highlight of my freshman year was being in there catching Hayden for the final out when we won a game against Young Harris to go to the Super Regional. That was a great dogpile.”
Rusher moved on, but Matthew Connolly, a West Rowan graduate and a catcher who had blossomed into a power hitter in his year at Surry Community College, arrived at Catawba. Connolly had been the Region 10 Player of the Year at Surry. He and Burleyson were friends from their days of sharing catching duties with Rowan County American Legion. Burleyson was glad to see Connolly join the program, because it made Catawba better, but it has limited his playing time.
Burleyson backed up Connolly and only got four starts as a sophomore, although he did get into quite a few games. His season highlight was getting one of the key hits as Catawba rallied for four runs in the eighth inning to beat eighth-ranked Mount Olive at Newman Park.
This season, Burleyson has gotten six starts. One of them was on Senior Day, and he responded with three hits against Emory & Henry. One of them was a double.
“I had a really good day at the plate and I enjoyed catching (Casey) Gouge because he was shoving that day,” Burleyson said.
Burleyson had not planned on a three-year stay when he arrived at Catawba, but he was so successful in the classroom that he was able to graduate early.
“That wasn’t the original plan at all – I didn’t realize that it could be done when I first came to Catawba,” Burleyson said. “I didn’t know for sure until this school year that I would actually be able to do it, but everything lined up. Graduating now makes a lot of sense for my future.”
A major part of Burleyson’s past and future is Carson graduate and Pfeiffer softball star Landry Stewart, a two-time USA South Player of the Year. They’ve been friends since elementary school and have been dating about six years.
“We’re pretty competitive with each other,” Burleyson said. “Landry wanted to know why my academic award is bigger than her player of the year award.”
Burleyson said Catawba held a first-class graduation ceremony for the baseball players. There have been years where they missed graduation cremonies if the baseball season was extended, but that wasn’t the case this time.
“It was great,” Burleyson said. “We got to walk and everyone was there. From the president of the college and the athletic director on down. Just one more good experience for me at Catawba.”
Maybe there will be another one in the Super Regional at Newman Park. And maybe another dogpile or two before Burleyson says goodbye.
