USAs Beavan Headlines 2008 Class

NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma baseball head coach Sunny Golloway announced the signing of eight baseball players for the 2008 season to national letters of intent on Monday. The OU coaching staff has landed another talented group which features top ten prospects from the state of Oklahoma and Texas, including USA Junior National Team member Blake Beavan (Irving, Texas - Irving H.S.).

“Although this is not a big group compared to last year 20 newcomers, we are confident we signed an excellent class that will compliment a young team coming back in 2008,” said Golloway, who's 2007 class was ranked No. 4 in the country. “Looking ahead, we have fewer holes to fill next year compared to this past season. The primary focus of this class was pitching, but we also added some solid hitters and position players.”

Head Coach Sunny Golloway on Signing Class

For the second consecutive year, the OU coaching staff landed a projected first-round draft pick in Beavan. Last year, Oklahoma signed Devin Shepherd, one of the highest ranked prep outfielders in the country, who was drafted in the fifth round by the Minnesota Twins, and recently completed the fall season for the Sooners.

Beavan, a hard-throwing right-hander from Irving High School in Irving, Texas, struck out 11 batters for Team USA against Cuba in the semifinals of IBAF "AAA" World Championships in August and is ranked the No. 2 prospect in the state of Texas. A towering presence on the mound at 6-7, Beaven was named an Aflac All-American participated in the Area Code Games this past season. He is projected by Baseball America as the No. 16 pick in the 2007 draft.

“The coaching staff recognizes that there is a risk in signing a high major league draft prospect such as Blake, but it is hard to pass up such a talented player,” added Golloway. “We were in the same situation a year ago but Devin silenced the critics and showing up on campus in August and we feel that this is a trend that has to continue in our recruiting process. The University of Oklahoma and the baseball program have a lot offer and we believe that we should be recruiting the best talent across the country every year.”

Although Beavan headlines the class, the other signees have earned their share of accolades in their young careers. The group features seven high school prospects and one junior college transfer. Three prospects from state of Oklahoma also highlight the class, including Chad Colbert (Allen H.S), Matt Hoffman (Owasso H.S.) and Brandon Smith (Norman North H.S.).

Colbert hit .489 last year for Allen High School en route to earning all-conference honors as an infielder. Colbert was also a member of the Junior Sunbelt team. Hoffman, a centerfield for perennial powerhouse Owasso High School, hit .412 as a junior and scored 51 runs hitting out of the leadoff spot. Smith joins Hoffman as one of the state's top 10 prospects and he already owns nine career records for the Timberwolves and holds 14 other single-season records. The infielder/right-handed pitcher hit .513 last year with 14 homers and 61 RBIs and is 10-1 during the last two years on the mound.

Joining Beavan from the state of Texas are right-handers P.J. Dean (New Caney High School), Ryan Duke (Calallen High School), Gary Poynter (Weatherford Junior College) and Michael Rocha (Hays Consolidated).

Dean is ranked the No. 9 prospect out of the state of Texas and will give OU another tall, hard throwing pitcher who was an area code games participant last year. Duke has led Calallen High School the last two years in strikeouts (12 complete games in 2006) and was also the starting shortstop a year ago with a .376 batting average and 44 RBIs.

Poynter is the lone JUCO player in this year's class and the right-hander was 1-2 with a 2.25 ERA (22 apps., three starts) throwing for the Weatherford Wranglers of the Texas Collegiate League over the summer. Poynter comes from Marcus High School and was drafted in the 48th round by the Cincinnati Reds after his senior year. Rocha rounds out the class and despite standing 5-10, the righty gives the Sooners' another power arm, topping off in the low 90's.

The Sooners went 45-22 in 2006 and put together the program's most successful postseason run, with an appearance in the Houston Super Regional, since making back-to-back trips to the College World Series in 1994-95.

The following is a brief rundown (in alphabetical order) of the Sooners' incoming class.

Blake Beavan, RHP
6-7, 210
Irving, Texas (Irving H.S.)

Chad Colbert, INF
5-10, 170
Allen, Okla. (Allen H.S.)

P.J. Dean, RHP
6-3, 175
New Caney, Texas (New Caney H.S.)

Ryan Duke, RHP/INF
6-0, 165
Corpus Christi, Texas (Calallen H.S.)

Matt Hoffman, OF/LHP
6-2, 190
Tulsa, Okla. (Owasso H.S.)

Gary Poynter, RHP
6-3, 220
Flower Mound, Texas (Weatherford J.C./Marcus H.S.)

Michael Rocha, RHP
5-11, 190
Austin, Texas (Hays Consolidated H.S.)

Brandon Smith, INF
5-11, 205
Norman, Okla. (Norman North H.S.)

CLICK HERE for more information on the 2008 recruiting class.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors