BELLEVUE, Neb. -- The Bellevue baseball team, under head coach Duane Monlux, has announced today the signing of Ben McKendall (Westchester, Calif./Glendale College/Westchester HS) to a letter of intent to continue his academic and athletic careers at Bellevue in the fall of 2015.
McKendall, a 6-foot, 190 pound right-handed power pitcher, was named as a member of the first team all-Western State South Conference after a career year last season. McKendall logged 64.1 innings on the bump recording a perfect 5-0 record along with a tidy 2.66 earned run average. He struck out 43 batters – against just 19 walks – while opponents managed just a tick above a hit per inning.
In his two-year career at Glendale McKendall went 9-1 on the hill while sporting a 3.13 ERA. He worked 103.1 innings in 22 appearances, including 16 starts. Opponents batted .260 against him and managed just 26 extra-base hits.
Coach Monlux on McKendall:
"We are very excited to sign a pitcher of Ben's ability. We lost two All-American pitchers this year and signing Ben gives us a pitcher with a great deal of College experience. We expect big things from Ben in a Bruin uniform. He is an upper 80's arm that does a tremendous job of throwing strikes. He was 9-1 over his two years in the Western State South Conference. He has pitched a lot of valuable collegiate innings."
Bellevue went 46-15 (18-6 MCAC) this past season while winning the final MCAC Tournament and hosting the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round. The Bruins reached the final game in the Opening Round Tournament before falling to Tabor College.
