By: John Kean, Sports Information Director
ROLLA, Mo. -- Missouri S&T head baseball coach
Todd DeGraffenreid has announced the signing of three pitchers to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period for the 2014 season.
The Miners have added Logan Sloniker from Kansas City's Park Hill High School, Eric Smith from Redlands Community College in Oklahoma and Blake Stephens from Longview Community College in Kansas City to the fold for the future.
Following is information on the 2014 early signees:
LOGAN SLONIKER, a 5-11, 155-pound pitcher from Park Hill High School in Kansas City, Mo.: Sloniker earned second team all-conference honors following the 2012 season after being named honorable mention as a sophomore, when he struck out 50 hitters in 38 innings of work. He had an earned run average of under four during his junior year.
ERIC SMITH, a 6-1, 160-pound pitcher from Redlands Community College in El Reno, Okla.: Smith posted a 5-2 record with a 3.27 earned run average as a freshman at Redlands, striking out 34 hitters in 44 innings of work and allowing only 16 earned runs in nine appearances on the mound. He was part of a state championship team at Union High School in 2010.
BLAKE STEPHENS, a 6-4, 210-pound pitcher from Longview Community College in Kansas City, Mo.: Stephens, who is originally from Chillicothe, Mo., recorded a 4-5 record with a 5.28 earned run average at Longview during the 2012 season, as he threw 46 innings in 12 games. He threw the fourth-most innings of anyone on the staff and struck out 36 hitters in the 46 innings he worked. At the high school level, Stephens was a two-time all-district and all-conference selection.
Stephens' father, Scott, is a former football player for the Miners who played on the undefeated 1980 team and he also has a brother who graduated from Missouri S&T in 2011. He plans to major in civil engineering at Missouri S&T.
Missouri S&T has won the Great Lakes Valley Conference's West Division championship in each of the last two seasons and is coming off a school record 32-win season in 2012.
