JONESBORO,
Ark. (8/8/2012) — Former Arkansas State pitcher Jacob Lee has been selected to
participate in the New York Penn League All-Star Game,
the league announced Wednesday. Lee was selected in the ninth round by the
Cleveland Indians in the June Major League Baseball draft and was the 293rd player
taken overall.
After
signing with Cleveland, he was assigned to the team’s short season class-A
affiliate Mahoning Valley Scrappers in Niles, Ohio,
where he has appeared in 12 games. He has made four starts on the year and has
4-1 record with 2.30 ERA, 38 strikeouts and an opponent batting average of
.161. He began the year as a relief pitcher
and made his first start for the Scrappers on July 20,
when he earned the victory after striking
out five in five innings of work. He is 1-1 as a starter on the year with a
1.80 ERA and 16 strikeouts.
“We
are excited about Jacob’s progression in professional baseball this summer and
his achievement on being selected to the All-Star game,” ASU head coach Tommy
Raffo. “It is a great compliment to be recognized within the NYPL.”
Lee,
a Jonesboro native and the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year, led
the Red Wolves to the finals of the SBC Tournament and a 34-23 record during
the 2012 season. He was named a third-team Louisville Slugger TPX All-American
last week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, becoming the first Arkansas State
player since Josh Yates in 2006 and 2007 to be named as an All-American and the
sixth overall to earn the honor. Lee finished the season with a
record of 9-1 and an ERA of 2.77, also earning first-team All-SBC honors at the
end of the regular season.
He
became the all-time ASU career strikeout leader during his senior season and struck out 86 batters on the year to
rank fourth in the Sun Belt. He struck
out 11 in ASU’s two SBC Tournament games to bring his career total to 280. Lee
broke the previous ASU record of 251 set by Rusty Bourg from 1967-70 when he
struck out five batters April 22 at Florida Atlantic to finish the game with
255 career strikeouts. He also finished with 24 career victories,
leaving him one short of the ASU record, also set by Bourg. His
322.1 innings pitched are also an ASU record. He graduated from ASU
in May with a degree in Sports Management.
