Pell City seniors Locke St.John (left), Blake Fuller (right) poise after their signing ceremony on Wednesday. Brian Schoenhals
“I am excited about going down there,” Fuller said. “Locke and I have been playing ball together since we were really young … The attractions to Southern Union are the atmosphere, and I love the field. Of course like (coach Joe Jordan) said at the signing, out of the last 20 years only 12 people hasn’t went to Division I school or been drafted. It is going to be fun and I can’t wait.”
St. John went 7-2 in his junior season at Pell City. He believes going to Southern Union will help achieve his goal of pitching for a Division I baseball program.
“It is a big opportunity for me to go to junior college and get out of there in one or two years to transfer to a school like Auburn or Troy,” St. John said.
Southern Union head coach Joe Jordan is elated about what both players bring to the program.
“Locke is a left-handed pitcher,” Jordan said. “We feel like he can be one of our conference pitchers. He has a good arm and I think for sure he will have a chance at our program. We are looking forward to having him. Left-handed pitchers are hard to come by and we are fortunate to have him not only the type of player he is but the kind of person he is.”
“We believe Blake is going to play in the outfield for us, probably right field and also maybe pitch as a closer or a one or two inning guy,” Jordan said. “We mainly want him in the outfield and as a hitter. We real fortunate to get both of them.”
St.John said he helped persuade Fuller to choose Southern Union over the over schools that he was considering.
“I kind of helped him make the decision,” St.John said. “We are best friends and we are going to be roommates. We have always been friends, so it is a good opportunity for us to further our playing careers together.”
Pell City head coach Andrew Tarver has had the privilege of watching both players mature on the diamond and off the diamond.
“These are two great guys that work hard every single day,” Tarver said. “They come to class every single day. Their academics are up to par; you can’t ask anything more of these two kids. They are very competitive, when they lose you can tell how bad it hurts and how much they enjoying working to get better.”
Last season the Panthers pushed Clay Chalkville to a third and decisive game of the Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 6A baseball playoffs.
“Last year these were two guys that had a huge impact on getting us to the second round of the playoff and a area championship,” Tarver said. “They have goals coming back and trying to get deeper in the playoffs. Locke will be on the mound throwing. He will be a lot better than he was last year. Every year he has gotten better. Blake is the same way. He will get on the mound to pitch for us, he will lock down an outfield position and hit with power for us.”
Contact LaVonte Young at lyoung@dailyhome.com.
