MATT ARBURR JOINS THE JOHNSON CITY CARDINALS
PLEASANTVILLE, NY - Former Pace University baseball player Matt Arburr (Bristol, CT/Bristol Eastern) will begin his professional baseball career in Johnson City, Tennessee as a member of the Johnson City Cardinals (Rookie League) of the Appalachian League. Arburr was taken in the 17th round (532nd overall) of the 2007 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft earlier this month on Friday, June 8th by the Saint Louis Cardinals and later signed on the 12th.
Arburr played an integral part in guiding Pace (30-26/18-12 NE-10) to its third 30-win season in school history and second consecutive. The Setters finished fourth in the Northeast-10 Conference, earning a berth in the NE-10 Conference Baseball Championships.
Arburr received various honors this season as he was named to the Northeast-10 Conference Baseball All-Conference First Team, the American Baseball Coaches of America (ACBA)/Rawlings Division II Northeast Regional First Team, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Northeast All-Region Second Team and the Daktronics Baseball All-Northeast Region Second Team. He also received off the field honors being named to the NE-10 Conference Baseball All-Academic First Team with a 3.33 GPA as a Finance major.
Arburr played and started in a team and career-high 55 games this season batting .315 (62-for-197) setting career-highs in homeruns (12), walks (36), triples (3), total bases (116), slugging percentage (.589) and stolen bases (16), to go along with 12 doubles, 46 runs batted in and 41 runs scored. His 62 hits this season tied his career-high. Arburr led the team in slugging, RBI's, homeruns, total bases and walks. He also led the NE-10 in homeruns, while ranking third in slugging, total bases and walks and ranking fourth in RBI's. For his career, Arburr played in 149 career games, starting in 147 batting .316 (170-for-538) with 27 homeruns, 42 doubles, 72 walks, 121 RBI's, 112 runs scored, 303 total bases, while slugging .563 with a .407 on base percentage. He is tied for seventh all-time at Pace in homeruns, seventh in RBI's, tied for fifth in doubles, tied for 14th in hits, tied for 18th in runs scored and 14th in walks.
The Johnson City Cardinals open the 2007 season on the road in Greeneville, Tennessee against the Greeneville Astros tonight, Tuesday, June 19th at 7:00 p.m.
Johnson City Cardinals Official Website
http://www.jccardinals.com/
