MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama baseball will host the First Pitch Banquet Tue., Feb. 7, at Battleship Pavillion from 5:30-8 p.m.

The event will feature former and current Jaguar major leaguers, including 2011 World Series and National League Championship Series MVP David Freese, the USA coaching staff and the 2012 Jaguar baseball team.

Also scheduled to be in attendance are former Jaguar All-Americans P.J. Walters and Marlon Anderson.

Specialty tables with a Major Leaguer, first-year head coach Mark Calvi and former head coach Steve Kittrell are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Single admission is $35 per person.

Reservations can be made by calling (251) 461-1366 or by contacting Beth Schiavoni at bschiavoni@usouthal.edu.

The program will feature a silent auction, music, cash bar and buffet dinner by Naman’s in addition to the evening’s speakers.

Freese, an All-American and Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in 2006, set MLB single-season postseason records for RBI (21) and total bases (50), and tied records for hits (25) and doubles (8) while helping lead St. Louis defeat Texas in the 2011 World Series. Freese hit a walk-off home run in Game 6 of the World Series, along with a triple, three RBI and a run scored, to force a deciding Game 7.

With his Game 6 performance, he became just the fifth player in MLB postseason history to hit a walk-off home run in Game 6 or Game 7 of a World Series, joining Joe Carter (1993), Kirby Puckett (1991), Carlton Fisk (1975) and Bill Mazeroski (1966). Freese also became just the third player all-time to hit a walk-off homer with his team trailing in a series 3-2, joining Puckett and Fisk.
    
Freese earned NLCS MVP honors after hitting .545 with three homers, nine RBI and seven runs scored in six games. In 18 postseason games this season, Freese batted .397 with eight doubles, one triple, five homers and 21 RBI while posting a 1.258 OPS.

P.J. Walters was traded from St. Louis to Toronto in July as part of a six-player deal. He pitched five games, four in St. Louis and one in Toronto, but was 7-4 with a 4.27 ERA at Triple-A Memphis before the trade. Walters was a two-time All-American and 2006 Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year at South Alabama, where he lettered from 2004-06

Freese and Walters helped lead USA to two consecutive NCAA Regionals as teammates in 2005-06.

Anderson played 12 seasons for six different organizations, and retired in 2009 as a New York Met. He now serves as the hitting coach for the Class-A Hagerstown Subs in the Washington Nationals organization. Anderson batted .265 with 63 home runs and 371 RBI in 1,151 career MLB games.

He was the 1995 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and first-team All-American selection by Baseball America,  and was a three-year letterwinner at USA from 1993-95.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).





First Pitch Banquet Flyer