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Eleven Tiger Baseballers Set For Action in Summer Woodbat Leagues
May 28, 2009
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - With the 2009 season behind them, 10 of the University of Memphis' current baseball players, along with one of the club's fall signees will take their talents to various collegiate woodbat leagues across the nation. The 11 Tigers will be dispersed over seven teams and six leagues. Pitchers Brach Davis and Ryan Fraser will play for the North Adams SteepleCats of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). Tiger freshmen Drew Martinez, Brandon Showmar and Jacob Wilson will be teammates on the Luray Wranglers' (Valley League) roster. Junior catcher Shawn Ablett and freshman utility player Heith Hatfield will play together for the Woodstock Riverbandits of the Valley League. Robby Graham will head to Texas to play for the Bravos Valley Bombers of the Texas League. Adam McClain will play for the Madison Mallards of the Northwoods League. Redshirt freshman Michael Wills rounds out the crew and will play for Union City of the K-I-T League. Alan Mathis, a standout infielder at Northwest Mississippi Community College who signed with the fall, will play for Hamilton Joe's Baseball Club in the Great Lakes League.
Ablett was one of the Tigers' top newcomers in 2009 and provided the squad with some offensive firepower from the catcher position. The junior backstop led the Tigers with four triples and ranked third on the team with a .297 batting average, 30 RBI and five home runs. He tied for second with 55 hits in 50 starts (41 at catcher and nine as the DH). Ablett put together 14 multi-hit games and led Memphis with nine multi-RBI outings. His bat was one of the top clutch sticks on the team as he hit .321 with runners in scoring position and drove in eight two-out RBI. Ablett, who drove in a personal-best three run on three occasions, collected a career-high four hits in win over Indian State on Mar. 13. He hit his first Division I home run in a 2-for-3 night against No. 2 Rice on Mar. 29. He wrapped up the year with a seven-game hit streak.
Davis went 2-5 with a 5.71 ERA as Memphis' Sunday starter. The southpaw, who held opponents to a staff-low (starters only) .278 batting average, finished the season second on the staff with 12 starts and 53 strikeouts in 64.1 innings of work. A native of Southaven, Miss., Davis made his first 10 starts on Sunday before being moved in the Friday night starting role for his final two outings. He was highly effective as the No. 1 starter, going 1-1 with 12 strikeouts and a 2.98 ERA. Davis went just 1-2 in seven C-USA appearances, but led the Memphis staff with 29 strikeouts and a 5.40 ERA in 41.2 innings. The lefty's two wins came against Kansas (Feb. 22) and Southern Miss (May 8). He fanned six in six innings to help Memphis to a 2-1 win over the Jayhawks in the 2009 Service Academies Spring Classic. He struck out five and allowed just two earned runs in 6.1 innings in a 5-4 win over USM. He turned in a career-night, striking out eight in six innings in a no-decision outing versus SIU-Edwardsville on April 12.
Fraser went 3-5 with a 7.04 ERA in his first season of Division I action. The big right-hander made 13 appearances, with nine of them coming as a starter. He made his first six appearances and went 2-3 as the Tigers' No. 2 starter before being moved to the Tuesday starter for his final three starts of the season. He fared well as the top midweek starter, going 1-1 with 10 strikeouts in 13 innings and a no decision. As a starter, Fraser posted a 3-4 record with a 6.18 ERA and 25 strikeouts. Memphis won five of the nine games he started in. For the year he logged 29 strikeouts in 47.1 innings of work. Fraser won the Tigers lone shutout of the year, fanning a career-best seven in seven innings in a 6-0 blanking of Valparaiso (Mar. 7). He also posted a 20-1 win over Indiana State (Mar. 14) and a 16-6 thumping of Arkansas State on April 7.
Coming off a shoulder injury at the end of the 2008 seaosn, Graham saw limited action in 2009. The sophomore hit .206 in 27 games and made 15 starts in the Tiger outfield (13 in leftfield and two as the DH). The Cordova High School product produced three multi-hit games. He thrived in a reserve role, hitting .357 with a triple and two RBI in 12 games. Graham tied a career-high with three hits in the Tigers' 10-5 Friday win over UCF on April 3. He also scored twice, stole two bases and had a RBI in the win.
Hatfield had a productive rookie campaign on the mound and at the plate for Memphis. Primarily used as a pitcher, Hatfield went 1-3, with a 5.30 ERA and three saves in 12 appearances. He earned his three saves in his first three outings. The Bartlett High School product made his first seven outings out of the U of M bullpen before success earned him the starting nod in his final five appearances. Hatfield fanned 33 in 37.1 innings of work and held opposing hitters to a .284 batting average against him. He notched a career-high when he struck out eight to earn his first collegiate save versus Kansas on Feb. 22. He then recorded saves at Troy (Feb. 27) and versus Valparaiso (Mar. 6). Hatfield posted a 0.00 ERA and fanned 11 in his first 5.1 innings of action. The freshman averaged nearly nine strikeouts per nine innings pitched. As a starter, Hatfield was 0-2, with a 7.32 ERA in six appearances in C-USA play. Memphis was 3-2 in games he started in. At the plate, Hatfield hit .212 with two homers and seven RBI. He started in 15 of the 19 games he appeared in (11 at first base, three at DH and, one as pitcher/DH). Hatfield hit a two-run home run in his second collegiate at-bat at Troy. He homered and drove in two in Memphis' 10-7 win at No. 2 Rice.
In a C-USA All-Freshman campaign, Martinez led the Tigers with a .309 batting average, a .392 on-base percentage and 60 hits in his rookie season. He started in centerfield in 46 of the 48 games he has played in, including 18 of his 19 C-USA games. He scored 32 runs, drove in 12 to go with nine stolen bases. Martinez is the first freshman to lead a Memphis team in hitting since Shane Young hit .413 to lead the 1981 Tigers. Martinez got his career off to a fast start, going 3-for-5 with the game-winning RBI in Memphis' 5-4 season-opening win over Kansas. He went on to hit safely in his first five collegiate games. His first season was highlighted by a club-high 19 multi-hit games that included a career-high 4-for-5 effort in a 13-inning win over Austin Peay. Alan Mathis Hamilton Joe's Baseball Club (http://hamiltonjoes.com) Great Lakes
McClain, a 2009 C-USA All-Freshman Team selection, bounced back from jaw injury that cut his true freshman season short in 2008. In 2009, the redshirt freshman put up some of the squad's top power numbers as a starter in all 46 games he has appeared in. He made 37 starts at second and nine in leftfield. McClain hit .288 and finished second on the team with a .471 slugging percentage, 92 total bases, six home runs (four in C-USA play) and three triples. He tied for second on the team with 55 hits. McClain highlighted his rookie season with a Memphis-best 17-game hit streak and he finished the year hitting safely in 25 of the last 28 games. McClain came up big in several occasions for the Tiger offense in 2009. He drove in the game-winning run in a 5-4, 13-inning win over Austin Peay on April 15 and went 2-for-6 with a grand slam, a career-high five RBI and two runs versus Tulane on April 26.
Showmar, a right handed pitcher from Little Rock, Ark., redshirted the 2009 season.
A product of CBHS, Wills redshirted the 2009 season.
Wilson was the lone Tiger to play in all 53 games in 2009. The freshman from Bartlett High School played in 43 games as Memphis' primary third baseman, but filled in adequately in seven games at shortstop after Brett Bowen suffered an ankle injury late in the year. Wilson tied for the team lead with 14 doubles and cranked four homers en route to hitting .260. He drove in 33 runs and was 6-for-7 in the stolen base category. Three of his four home runs came against C-USA competition, including a two-run blast that was part of a 3-for-4 day in a 10-5 win over UCF. Wilson drove in four runs, legged out two doubles and scored twice in that game. His first career home run was a grand slam versus Indiana State on Mar 14. Wilson provided Memphis with a walk-off triple to defeat the Sycamores 6-5 in 10 innings the day before. He capped and highlighted his freshman season by hitting .455 (5-for-11) with a team-best 1.000 slugging percentage, a .500 on-base percentage, 11 total bases, five runs scored and four RBI to help Memphis to a 2-1 series win over Southern Miss--the club's first league win of the year.
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