Four Baseball Players Agree To Terms With Professional Clubs
6/15/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Four Baseball Players Agree To Terms With Professional Clubs
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? Southern Miss' Anthony DeWitt (Sr./RHP), Ryan Frith (Sr./OF), Matt Shepherd (Jr./SS) and Austin Tubb (Sr., RP) have come to terms and signed professional contracts and will report to their respective baseball teams tomorrow. Hoffpauir is the only player drafted that hasn't signed at this time.
DeWitt will report to Greeneville, Tenn., and play for the Greeneville Astros of the South Atlantic League (Short Season A). Frith will report to Batavia, N.Y., and play for the Batavia Muckdogs of the Penn League (Short Season A). Shepherd and Tubb will report to Augusta, N.J., and play for the New Jersey Cardinals of the Penn League (Short Season A).
DeWitt, a second-team All-Conference USA honoree, finished with a 10-3 record and a 4.80 ERA in a team-high 93.2 innings pitched. He struck out 68, walked 35 and opponents hit .276 against him. He tied for fourth on the school's single-season and career wins list (19). In Conference USA statistics, he was first in wins, second in games started and fifth in batters struck out looking. He had a season-high 10 strikeouts against Indiana State. One of DeWitt's top performances came against Ole Miss in Jackson, Miss., where he gave up two earned runs on 10 hits and struck out six in eight innings pitched. He surrendered only one extra base hit.
Frith, a second-team USA Today/Sports Weekly, TPX/Louisville Slugger and NCBWA All-American, hit .341 for the year with 85 hits, 15 doubles, 22 home runs, scored 59 runs and drove in 63 runs.He finished with 166 total bases for a .667 slugging percentage and had a .419 on-base percentage. He finished with 111 putouts, six assists and had a fielding percentage of .967.
Frith had 22 multiple-hit games and 16 multiple-RBI games. His top performance was against then-No. 28 Oklahoma State, when he finished with four hits, including a double, a home run, four runs scored and drove in four runs. He also was a first-team All-Conference USA performer and was named to the Conference USA All-Tournament team. He was named Conference USA and National Hitter of the Week once and was listed as a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, signifying the top collegiate baseball player.
Shepherd, a third-team TPX Louisville Slugger All-American, hit .378 with 104 hits, 27 doubles, six triples, scored 74 runs and drove in 41 runs. He finished with 149 total bases for the year for a .542 slugging percentage and had a .449 on-base percentage. He finished with 32 multiple-hit games and nine multiple-RBI games. He had 89 putouts, 191 assists and helped turn 50 double plays. Shepherd was named a first-team All-Conference USA honoree and was selected to the Conference USA All-Tournament team. He had a long hitting streak of 12 games and was named Conference USA Hitter of the Week once. His top performance came against TCU when he went 6-for-6 with two doubles, three runs scored and five RBIs.
Tubb, a first-team TPX/Louisville Slugger and National Collegiate Baseball Writers' All-American, is Southern Miss' all-time save leader with 20 and is fourth all-time in Conference USA history. A second-team CoSIDA Academic All-American, he finished with an 8-0 record with 10 saves and a 0.93 ERA in 38.2 innings pitched this season. A first-team All-Conference USA performer, he struck out 49, walked seven and opponents hit .215 against him. He was second in Conference USA in saves and tied for eighth in victories. Last season as a junior, he was 3-2 with 10 saves and a 1.45 ERA in 31 innings pitched. He struck out 30, walked nine and opponents hit.196 against him.