Sept. 21, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford's 2009 baseball recruiting class has been ranked in the top 100 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball, the publication announced recently.

It marks the fourth time in five classes under Samford head coach Casey Dunn, recruiting coordinator Tony David and pitching coach Mick Fieldbinder that the Bulldogs have received this recognition. Prior to that, no other class had been nationally ranked.

The 2009 class was the third highest ranked class in the Southern Conference, and comes as a little bit of a surprise with the small size of the group with only seven new players.

"Lex (Rutledge) and Alvin (Hines) being drafted and coming to campus obviously helps, but we only signed a few guys in this class and so much of the rankings is based on numbers," Dunn said. "Bringing in experienced guys also factors into the rankings, and we only signed one junior college player. It is a good statement for our program."

The group is headlined by two draft picks: Left handed pitcher Lex Rutledge whose fastball topped out at 95 miles per hour this spring, was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 26th round and lighting fast Alvin Hines, who has been timed as good as a 6.37 sixty-yard dash, was selected in the 50th round by the Washington Nationals. Rounding out the class were Sean Handlan (LHP, Marietta, Ga), Tommy Corbin (INF, Atlanta, Ga), Arthur Strauss (RHP, Birmingham, Ala), DJ Luna (INF, Brentwood, Tenn), and Michael Gunter (RHP, Trussville, Ala).

Of the teams listed in the top 40, only two teams (Georgia Tech and Texas) had fewer than 10 newcomers and only Georgia Tech had few than the seven Samford signed.

"Hopefully it will speak to the quality of the guys we brought in," David said. "We had so much returning we did not look to this class to add quantity, but need to add guys to help out immediately. It is a nice statement for the program and our efforts. Of course it will mean a lot more if they do it on the field in the spring."