Bears sign four Arkansans to next season's baseball roster

University of Central Arkansas baseball coach Doug Clark has signed four Arkansasans to NCAA National Letters of Intent to join the program in the fall of 2009.

Ethan Harris of White Hall, Tyler Hardin of Greenbrier, Ethan McKinzie of Gravette and Jonathan Houston of Conway all recently signed to play for the Bears.

Harris, a 6-0, 190-pound outfielder and infielder, is an all-state performer and two-time all-conference selection for White Hall High School. As a junior, he hit .398 with two home runs, 34 runs batted in and a .678 slugging percentage. He was selected the Southeast Arkansas Player of the Year as a sophomore while hitting .367 with three homers, 27 RBI and a .598 slugging percentage. With the Pine Bluff Simmons 1st American Legion over the summer, Harris hit .569 with 10 home runs, 34 RBI, an .836 slugging percentage and .800 on-base percentage.

"We are extremely excited to sign a player of Ethan's caliber," Clark said. "He was our top offensive high school prospect going into this recruiting season. We feel like he is the best high school hitter in the state in this year's senior class. He's a left-handed hitter that has tremendous presence in the box which is something you don't see every day. He runs and throws well and can play some infield positions if needed."

Hardin, a 6-0, 170-pound left-handed pitcher, went 5-4 with a 2.06 earned run average and 92 strikeouts in 56 innings as a junior at Greenbrier High. He went 5-4 with a 2.10 ERA and 102 strikeouts in 70 innings as a sophomore. Hardin also plays for the Greenbrier American Legion team.

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"We are glad to keep a local player like Tyler close to home," Clark said. "I feel like he has a chance to be a good college lefty. He throws a lot of strikes and he can do so with more than one pitch which is obviously very important at our level."

McKinzie is a 6-1, 175-pound right-handed pitcher from Gravette High School. As a junior he went 9-3 with a 2.11 ERA and 124 strikeouts in 77 innings.

"Ethan is a player that we really feel like ability wise has a high ceiling." Clark said. "He's a good athlete with a nice arm. He's a three-sport athlete and being a quarterback we feel like he brings some intangibles to the table as far as his make-up goes. He has the type of arm we like and feel will get stronger in time."

Houston is a 6-1, 185-pound first baseman and outfielder that is currently playing for Northeast Texas Community College in Mt. Pleasant, Texas. As a freshman, he hit .339 with 11 doubles, three home runs and 26 runs batted in while starting 33 games at Arkansas Tech.

"Jonathan is another Conway kid who we are happy to see coming home to finish his college career," Clark said. "He is a left-handed hitter which is something that we needed. He had a tremendous fall at Northeast hitting well over .400 with more extra base hits than strikeouts.

"Overall, we feel like these four early signees fill a lot of our needs. We signed two left-handed hitters who have the potential to be middle of the order kind of guys and two young arms that have the type of arms that have a chance to develop. Left-handed hitting and young pitching in general was our focus starting this recruiting year and we feel like we filled some of these areas."

Clark and the 2009 Bears will open the season in Conway on Feb. 20 against Tennessee-Martin.