Baseball

SAINTS PUT THREE MORE NAMES ON THEIR LIST OF SIGNEES
For Immediate Release
March 20, 2007

JOLIET, Ill. -- University of St. Francis announces the signings of three more baseball-playing student-athletes to letters-of-intent. All three will enroll at USF in the fall of 2007.

Joining head baseball coach Gordie Gillespie’s recruiting class are left-handed pitcher/first baseman Mitch La Buda (Downers Grove North H.S./Downers Grove, IL), right-handed pitcher David Hexdall (Morris H.S./Morris, IL) and catcher/third baseman Brent Walters (Lisle H.S./Lisle, IL).

La Buda is playing his second season of varsity baseball at Downers Grove North this spring. As a junior, he notched a 3-3 record with one save and a 2.57 earned run average. He struck out 39 batters and walked only 22 in 43 2/3 innings. In addition to baseball, he has played hockey competitively since he was a young child, with 11 years of that sport under his belt.

Hexdall is a three-sport standout at Morris. In addition to playing his fourth year of baseball for the Redskins this spring, he also is a four-year member of the school’s swim team and ran cross country for the first time this past fall as a senior. He has served as captain for both the swim and baseball squads. He entered the 2007 season as the No. 2 starter on the Morris pitching staff. A fine student, he also has been recognized as an Illinois State Scholar.

Walters is a three-time letterman in both baseball and football at Lisle. He has twice earned all-Interstate Eight Conference recognition in football (2005 and ‘06) and also captured all-league honors last spring as a junior in baseball. He helped lead his baseball squad to a regional championship in 2006 and was part of a football program that qualified for the state playoffs for four straight years. He served as captain on both teams. He was named all-DuPage County by both the Daily Herald and Liberty Suburban in baseball as a junior and earned honorable mention accolades from both publications as a senior in football.