Office of Public Relations
Missouri Baptist University
One College Park Drive
Saint Louis, Missouri 63141-8698
314.392.2307 / fax 314.392.2265
www.mobap.edu / pr@mobap.edu
For Immediate Release
RE: Former MBU baseball athletes go professional
Former MBU baseball athletes go professional
January 17, 2008
The Southern Illinois Miners professional baseball team have signed former MBU baseball players Jake McMurran and Brad Arnett for the 2008 season.
Brad Arnett
The Miners, located in Marion, Ill., are a part of the Frontier League, a 12-team independent professional baseball league that will play its 16th season in 2008.
Both Arnett, a third baseman and outfielder, and McMurran, a right-handed pitcher, played baseball at MBU before last summer when they joined the undefeated Havasu Heat, the current National Baseball Congress (NBC) World Series Champion.
Jake McMurran
Arnett hit .520 with an .840 slugging percentage to win MVP honors in the NBC World Series. Arnett hit .432 overall with the heat in 2007 with 15 doubles, three triples, seven home runs and 10 stolen bases. He was an all-American at MBU where he hit .373 with five home runs his senior season.
“Everyone I have spoken to has told me that Brad can just flat swing the bat,” Miners Manager Mike Pinto said. “He has hit successfully everywhere he has played, and we are glad to add him to the Miners this season.”
McMurran went 4-0 with a 1.98 ERA with his submarine delivery with the Heat. He struck out 41 batters while walking only nine and holding opponents to a .172 batting average.
As a closer at MBU he went 4-2 with four saves in 13 games in 2007. While at MBU, he earned all-America and all-conference honors in the American Midwest Conference.
“The scouting report on Jake is he is a hard thrower from down under,” Pinto said. “He lives on the inner half of the plate and is a flat out competitor."
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Missouri Baptist University is a premier Christian university in Saint Louis, offering graduate and undergraduate studies in over thirty specialized fields and nine degrees. MBU's education and fine arts programs are nationally known in addition to business, religion, administration of justice, and more. MBU is one of the fastest growing higher education institutions in Missouri with an enrollment of over 4,500 students at five locations in the bi-state region — West County, Lincoln County, Jefferson County, Franklin County and the new Illinois extension at Lewis and Clark Community College.
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