TYLER SHAW HAS BEEN NAMED THE COACH OF RUSSELLVILLE'S AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL TEAM THIS SUMMER

        RUSSELLVILLE, Arkansas – Arkansas Tech sophomore shortstop Tyler Shaw has recently been named as the head coach of Russellville’s American Legion Post 20 Baseball team for this summer.

Shaw, who is a native of St. Mary’s, Ga., takes over the reigns of the program from former Wonder Boy player and current Henderson State assistant coach Rob Vessell, who coached the Russellville team the past three summers. Shaw was a member of last season’s Russellville American Legion team.

“We haven’t gotten a lot of practice time, but I feel pretty good about the players we have this summer,” Shaw said. “We’ve got some guys who are going to fill some holes of the ones who graduated or played their last season last year.”

Shaw, who recently completed his freshman campaign at Tech, played in 36 games and made 34 starts with the Wonder Boys. On the season, Shaw hit .236 and recorded 26 hits in 110 at-bats. In addition, he scored 21 runs, hit five doubles, had three home runs and drove in 11 runs. Shaw also made six appearances on the mound and recorded a 5.68 earned run average. In 6.1 innings of work, Shaw allowed seven hits and five runs, while walking four and striking out four.

This season’s Russellville American Legion team includes players from Russellville, Pottsville, Dover, Atkins, Lamar and Clarksville.

Shaw is joined in the dugout this summer by sophomore Wonder Boy pitcher Kyle Hagis (Sherman, Texas) as an assistant coach. In addition to Hagis, senior pitcher Karl Whitley (Tucson, Ariz.) and sophomore catcher Landon Sullins (Harrison, Ark.) will also help coach the team this summer.

Several of the team’s games this summer will be played on the Tech campus at Tech Field. The American Legion season will conclude with the Arkansas State Legion Baseball Tournament on July 23-28 at Burns Park in North Little Rock.

-- Tech Athletics --