FROM STAFF REPORTS

MONTEVALLO – Former Pelham Baseball standout and recent Montevallo graduate Austin Dubberly signed a professional baseball contract, June 7 with the River City Rascals of the Frontier League.

The Helena native completed a tryout with the Rascals, located in O’Fallon, Mo., earlier in the week and earned a contract offer to join the club. Dubberly is the first Montevallo player to sign a professional baseball contract since Nate Russ signed a minor league contract with the Atlanta Braves in 2010.

“I’m excited Austin has this opportunity to continue playing,” said Montevallo baseball coach Chandler Rose. “He has worked very hard over the past four years to make himself a better player and deserves a chance to play. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”

The Rascals have played 16 games during their 2013 season and are currently in fourth place in the Frontier League West Division. Dubberly will join the club for the remainder of the regular season, which ends in early September.

Dubberly batted .296 with four homeruns and drove in 40 runs while helping the Falcons reach the Peach Belt Conference tournament championship game for the first time during the 2013 season. He was named first team All-Peach Belt Conference and second team NCAA Division II All-Southeast Region by the American Baseball Coaches Association following his sophomore season in 2011.

Dubberly finished his career with his name at the top of the Montevallo baseball record book with 613 career assists, which surpassed the previous school-record mark of 521 career assists set by B.J. Holloway.

His senior season also left him near the top of the school record book in two other categories. After recording 18 sacrifice hits this season, Dubberly finished just four sacrifice hits shy of tying the Falcons’ single-season record. He finished fifth among NCAA Division II players. He also finished with 741 career at-bats, which places him third all-time at UM.

Dubberly earned the Montevallo athletic department’s John Bennett Walters Award as the top male scholar-athlete during the 2012-2013 season and was also the department’s male Sportsmanship Award recipient.