The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Baseball Signs Luke Eigsti
11/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Luke Eigsti of Scottsdale, Ariz. has signed his National Letter of Intent and will join the UAB baseball team for the 2016 season, head coach Brian Shoop announced on Tuesday.
"Coach (Perry) Roth had the privilege of recruiting Luke's brother (Ryan) while at Bradley University, so the families' first connection to UAB was through Perry Roth," Shoop said. "Since that time, all of our coaches have had the opportunity to get to know the Eigsti family and we couldn't be more pleased to welcome Luke into our baseball family. He is an amazing young man and an extremely talented player from a great baseball family."
Eigsti was named to the all-section team last year and is ranked No. 7 in the state of Arizona by Perfect Game. He attended the Perfect Game National Showcase over the summer and tied for the highest outfield velocity in the nation at 95 mph.
"He comes from a family that has produced three Division I baseball players with two of them going on to play professionally," Shoop added. "Luke will become the fourth brother to move into Division I baseball. As an outfielder, we wanted to add a bat that can potentially hit in the middle of our order, and Luke brings that ability to UAB. The bonus with Luke is that he pitches as well. He has that big arm from the outfield that we look forward to seeing improve on the mound. He has the ability to be a two-way player as he continues to develop and gain strength."
He was invited to the Perfect Game Underclass All-American Games at the beginning of his junior campaign and was also invited to the Under Armour All-American Preseason Tournament later that year.
"Luke is a highly rated player that has been invited to travel all over the country to play with Perfect Game and on scout selected teams," Shoop said. "We believe the high level of competition he has played against will help him with his transition into the competition of Conference USA."
He hit .388 with four home runs in his junior year and also tallied five doubles, two triples and swiped seven bases. He totaled a 2.37 ERA with 48 strikeouts in 44 innings on the mound.
"We believe Luke to be another true match for UAB Baseball," Shoop said. "He is an outstanding player, a gifted student and has the high character make up that we look for in a player. We are excited about another great addition to the UAB family in Luke Eigsti."
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