Hoffpauir Agrees To Terms With Cardinals
6/16/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Hoffpauir Agrees To Terms With Cardinals
Jarrett Hoffpauir |
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ?
Southern Miss All-American second-baseman Jarrett Hoffpauir has come to terms and signed a professional contract, Tuesday night, and will report to Augusta, N.J., with former teammates, Matt Shepherd and Austin Tubb, today. He also will play for the New Jersey Cardinals of the N.Y. Penn League (Short Season A). Hoffpauir is the final draftee from the 2004 Golden Eagle squad to sign his contract.
Hoffpauir had one of the finest, if not the finest, seasons ever by a Golden Eagle. He has been named first-team All-Conference USA, the C-USA All-Tournament team, the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional All-Tournament team, first-team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, second-team All-American by USA Today/Sports Weekly and third-team All-American by TPX/Louisville Slugger. He was a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and the Golden Spikes Award, given to the top collegiate player in the nation.
He had a team-leading .405 batting average, scored 62 runs, had a school-record 109 hits, tied for the team lead with 27 doubles, hit two triples, 11 home runs, a school-record 92 RBIs, a school-record 12 sacrifice flies and was walked 20 times. In the field, he finished with only six errors for the season in 332 fielding chances (.982) and helped turn 52 double plays.
Hoffpauir only struck out eight times for the season, which equates to one strikeout every 38.25 plate appearances. He produced a run every 3.3 plate appearances and committed an error in the field once in every 55.3 chances.
Southern Miss finished with a 45-19 record in 2004 and was ranked among the top 25 for most of the year and is currently No. 26 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association Poll. This, along with the 2003 campaign, marks the two most successful seasons in the history of the baseball program, posting a 92-35 record, winning the 2003 Conference USA regular season and tournament titles, second place in both the 2004 regular season and tournament championships and earning two trips to the NCAA Tournament, hosting the 2003 Hattiesburg Regional and traveling to Baton Rouge for the 2004 Tournament. Southern Miss posted an 84-49 record during the 1990 and 1991 seasons, tied with Florida State for the Metro Conference Tournament championship and received invitations to the 1990 and 1991 NCAA Tournament at Baton Rouge, La., and Austin, Texas, respectively.