Lex Rutledge has signed a national letter of intent to play baseball at Samford University.
FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The following is the third and final profile of Samford’s baseball signees from the early signing period. Today’s featured signee is Lex Rutledge. The coaching staff will announce further additions in the spring, though there are not expected to be many new additions due to the overall youth of the 2009 Samford Baseball team.
Lex Rutledge (LHP, 6-1, 185, Tupelo High School, Tupelo, Miss.) is a hard-throwing left-handed pitcher that helped lead his Tupelo High School team to a No. 1 national ranking last year after a 20-0 start to the season. He was 3-0 and struck out 20 hitters in 20 innings of work. During the second round of the team’s run to the state finals, he struck out six batters while allowing only one run against Clinton High School. Rutledge is ranked the No. 6 pitcher in the state of Mississippi by Perfect Game.
Rutledge was selected to play as a Mississippi High School All-Star in the State Games. During this summer he was 4-1 with a 2.5 earned run average including a game in which he threw six innings of no-hit relief for the win. He has a live arm that has reached the 90 mile-per-hour range and is expected to help the Bulldog program right away.
“We are extremely excited about getting Lex into the program,” Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. “He comes out of a great high school program that has been one of the best in the country the last couple of years. He has great life to his fastball with a couple of off speed pitches that should help him contribute right away. Also, his potential is unlimited. He definitely has one of the best arms in his state.”
Rutledge is entering Samford in a small recruiting class which makes him that much more valuable to the team.
“We are as young as we will ever be this year with very few seniors,” Dunn said. “So we are not bringing in very many players, making it more important than ever to get the right players and right types of people. Lex is a great fit for Samford University.”
Rutledge was recruited by Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Southern, Alabama, Missouri, Southeastern Louisiana, Delta State, Troy and Alabama Southern.
