July 21, 2008

CHICO, Calif.- Recent Royal graduate Ben Shockey signed a professional baseball contract with the Chico (Calif) Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League, an independent league based out of Dublin, Calif.

Shockey, who was a four-year player for the Royals came to Warner Southern as a walk-on his freshman year and quickly established himself as one of the anchors in the Royals pitching staff, doing whatever was asked of him, whether as a starter or pitching in relief. 

Throughout his career at Warner Southern, Shockey continued to show improvement and this past season all his hard work came into fruition as he led the team in several statistical categories including: wins (7), game appearances (19), games started (10), saves (4), innings pitched (85.2) and strikeouts (79). He compiled a collegiate career low 3.05 ERA in his 19 appearances this season. Homeruns for the opposition were scarce when facing Shockey, as he only allowed one homerun all season, while logging a team leading 330 at bats. 

In his career at Warner, Shockey threw 170.5 innings with a career-ERA of 4.17, while striking out 139 batters, and allowing only two home runs in 677 at bats.

Shockey was equally impressive in the classroom earning Dean’s List honors multiple times while at Warner and was a 2007 Daktronics-NAIA Baseball Scholar Athlete.  He also was named Warner’s Male Athlete of the Year his junior year for his achievements on the field and in the classroom. 

Shockey, a devout Christian also spent his past two summers playing for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Grays as one of their top pitchers.  Shockey carried the momentum from a great senior season with the Royals into his play with the Grays this summer, possessing a 4-0 record with a 1.12 ERA to match.

The Golden Baseball League is an eight-team league that is dedicated to developing professional independent baseball in western North America, with teams in California and Canada. 

The Outlaws, the reigning GBL Champions are 15-27 and currently sit in last place in the North Division. They are coming off the GBL All-Star break and look to turn things around with their six-game stance in Canada, beginning with a three-game series against the North Division leading Calgary Vipers, with the first game played tonight and another three game series versus the Edmonton Cracker Cats.