Three More Sign On To Play For 'Jacks
7/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
July 16, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Lumberjack head baseball coach Johnny Cardenas has announced the signing of another trio of athletes for the 2009 season, going local with the signing Lufkin's Marty Anderson, as well as Hutto's Garrett Carey and Alvin Community College's Ryan Priest.
"What we're trying to do here is establish a winning attitude at SFA and this group of kids helps to do that," Cardenas said.
Priest - along with earlier signees Tanner Hines and Bo Coffman - gives SFA three players that have taken their teams to the Junior College World Series in the past two years. Priest's ACC Dolphins won a pair of games at this year's World Series, while Coffman led his Grayson County College Vikings to a perfect run through the bracket and the national championship.
Anderson is the second local product the `Jacks have signed in the past month after former Hudson standout Hines signed on in May. The 6-1, right-handed pitcher was the Lufkin High School pitcher of the year the past two seasons and helped the Panthers to 5A bi-district titles in both 2007 and 2008. He was a second team all-district pitcher as a junior and a first-team selection as a senior in 2008, picking up 68 strikeouts in 75.1 innings.
He sports a consistent upper-80's fastball and threw seven complete games for head coach Clay Berry's team as a senior and was quoted in the Lufkin Daily News as crediting Cardenas on making him feel at home as his main reason for signing.
"Out of all the offers that I had, he made me feel more at home," Anderson said. "He made me want to play there."
A success in the classroom as well, Anderson earned the Academic Excellence award for baseball each of the last two years at LHS.
"Marty is a guy that we expect to pitch as a freshman for us," Cardenas said. "He's the type of guy that we expect to come in and make an impact for us after having a very successful career in Lufkin."
Carey was recently named to the Class 3A all-state team for Hutto High School, leading them to a Class 3A Region III championship and a berth in the UIL State Tournament last month. A team captain as a senior, he earned first team all-district as a shortstop after hitting .446 with three home runs and 44 RBI for the Hippos.
He was a four-year letterwinner for head coach Pete Schmidt and had success on the mound as well in 2008, posting a 4-1 record with seven saves and a 1.52 ERA. Carey was the District 18-3A Newcomer of the Year as a freshman before earning second team all-district honors as a pitcher in his junior season and first team all-district honors at third base as a sophomore.
"We expect Garrett to come in and push our middle infielders right off the bat," Cardenas said. "He's another versatile winner that has tremendous potential as both a pitcher and an infielder."
Priest was an all-state second baseman at Pasadena's Dobie High School before moving on to Alvin Community College two years ago. He will have two years of eligibility remaining for the SFA and Cardenas expects him to be a "Jack-of-all-trades" with the ability to be utilized as a catcher, third baseman, outfielder or pitcher.
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