JOURNAL SPORTS

Major League Baseball scouts don’t make recommendations based on standard college statistics. If they did, suffice to say that several players on the unbeaten LSUS team that won the NAIA national championship might have big league opportunities.

But going 13-0 with a 1.76 earned run average this spring will get noticed. That and more of his physical attributes have earned Pilots’ junior right-hander Draven Zeigler a free agent deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

While several teammates have signed independent league pro contracts – including the Pilots’ ace, NAIA Pitcher of the Year Isaac Rohde – Zeigler is the first to get a shot with a big league franchise. He is headed to Bradenton, Fla., to play for the Pirates’ rookie league team.

Zeigler, 6-4 and 230, struck out 107 in 87 innings this spring. He was 30-2 in three seasons with LSUS, posting a 2.71 ERA and 262 strikeouts in 212.2 innings pitched.

He made NAIA first-team All-America, was a NAIA Pitcher of the Year finalist, and made the All-Louisiana second team alongside players from the state’s NCAA Division I programs, including College World Series champion LSU.

Zeigler was planning to return to LSUS next spring before the Pirates made him an offer he didn’t refuse.

“(Darren) was an instrumental part of our program in every way possible,” said LSUS coach Brad Neffendorf in a social media post. “No one more deserving … a guy who has a chance to pitch for a long time! This was a no-brainer for the Pirates.”

Rohde is off to a good start with the New York Boulders in the Frontier League, an independent association of teams In the Northeast and Midwest. A dozen major leaguers last year emerged from the Frontier League, making the trek through MLB minor league affiliates to the big leagues.

Rohde, whose team is based in Pomona, N.Y., tied the Boulders’ single-game strikeout record Friday night by fanning 12 New Jersey Jackals batters.