Impressive Debuts

Two of the Southern Indiana Mud Hens prospects had impressive debuts over the holiday weekend. Mud Hens first round supplemental pick Shooter Hunt, a right-handed pitcher out of Tulane University made his professional debut on Friday, July 4th for the Elizabethtown Twins. Hunt went 3 innings and did not allow a hit or a walk while striking out 6 in a no decision against the Bristol Sox.

Mud Hens second round pick Dennis Raben, an outfielder and first baseman from the University of Miami, had a very impressive professional debut this weekend. In his first 3 professional games, Raben is 8-for-10 with 7 runs scored, 4 doubles, 1 home run, 3 rbi's, 3 walks and a stolen base for the Everett Aqua Sox.

Down on the Farm, Sunday, 07/06/2008

AAA
Brad Nelson, OF, Nashville Sounds
Nelson was 3-for-4 with a runs scored, 2 doubles and 3 rbi's in a 7-4 win over the Round Rock Express.

AA
Daniel Cortes, SP, NW Arkansas Travelers
Cortes was the winning pitcher going 5 innings and giving up 4 hits, 4 walks and 2 earned runs while striking out 4 in a 4-2 win over the Corpus Christi Hooks.

Low A
Yefri Carvajal, OF, Ft. Wayne Wizards
Carvajal was 1-for-3 with a run scored and a walk in a 6-2 loss to the South Bend Silver Hawks.

Class A Short Season
Dennis Raben, OF, Everett Aqua Sox
Raben was 2-for-3 with a run scored, 2 doubles, 2 rbi's and 2 walks in a 7-6 loss to the Yakima Bears.

Ruffin Named All-American

Southern Indiana Mud Hens prospect and Texas Longhorns freshman right-hander Chance Ruffin was named to Baseball America’s College All-America team the publication announced on Thursday. He was tabbed a third-team starting pitcher.

The Longhorns’ northpaw was one of just two freshmen named to any of the three teams, joining Miami left-hander Chris Hernandez.

Ruffin was arguably the best freshman starting pitcher in the nation in 2008. In 10 starts, he went 7-0 with a 1.56 ERA, striking out 60 over 57.2 innings. Ruffin was named the Big 12 Conference Freshman Pitcher of the Year, posting an 8-3 record with a 1.96 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 78 innings. He held opponents to a .191 batting average for the season.

Earlier in the month, Ruffin was named to the Louisville Slugger’s Freshman All-American Team by Collegiate Baseball and the Pro-Line Athletics Freshman All-American Team by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

Ruffin kept a streak alive for the Longhorns who have had at least one All-American in each of the last seven seasons.

Mud Hens Prospect Called to Show

Southern Indiana Mud Hens outfield prospect, Roger Bernadina, was called up by the Washington Nationals on Sunday. Bernadina started and led off games on Sunday and Monday and is currently hitting .100 going 1-for-10 with a run scored. At AA, Harrisburg, Bedrnadina was hitting .323 with 11 doubles and 5 home runs, 47 runs scored and was 26 for 35 in stolen base attempts.