Pair of NIACC pitchers sign with NCAA Division I schools

MASON CITY - A pair of NIACC pitchers signed national letter of intents with NCAA Division I schools on Tuesday.

The Trojans' Patrick Pridgen signed with the University of Oregon and Tyson Tucker signed with UNC-Charlotte.

"It's alway a fun day," NIACC coach Travis Hergert said. "When their goal is to be a Division I baseball player or a professional baseball player, it is a celebration of their hard work and it continues to grow our baseball program."

Pridgen, a right-hander, was 7-2 with 61 strikeouts, 35 walks and a 3.47 earned run average in 62 1/3 innings pitched in 2018 for the Trojans.

"It's a fantastic fit," Hergert said of Pridgen heading to Oregon. "It's our first guy we've sent to the Pac 12 so now we've sent someone to all of the power five conferences.

"For Patrick, it's been a hard road with him having a knee injury in his freshman year. He had a strong season last year and he continued to make improvements over the summer to put himself in this position."

Tucker was 2-0 with 24 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings pitched a year ago.

"That's a special one," Hergert said. "Tyson has faced a lot of adversity here at NIACC.

"He may not have numbers coming off his freshman season, but he took our advice and went to Pitching Premier Performance in St. Louis, who do a great job of training pitchers and he came back a different pitcher - not only physically but mentally. He really did a solid job this fall and was lights out."