HART'S SHIELDS FACES OPTIONS: RAYS OR LSU?Byline: Scott Magoloff Staff Writer NEWHALL - Jamie Shields is not about to torture himself by asking ``What if?'' The Hart High of Newhall senior pitcher has come to terms with the lower-back strain which caused him to miss all but the last two weeks of the regular season. He's also accepted the consequences of his unfortunate miniseason: a disappointing 16th-round selection (466th overall) in Monday's major-league draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are a professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida, Florida. The Devil Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Devil Rays have played in Tropicana Field. . ``I thought I'd go a little higher than that, but it happened,'' Shields said. ``I had my back injury earlier this year and it had an effect. I had a real good (two-day) workout last week. I threw 92 and 93 (mph) consistently and felt 100 percent, but I guess that didn't matter. I am glad I at least got drafted.'' Shields held two personal workouts in front of about 20 scouts at Pierce College In 2006 the Library won a national Excellence award. Academics Pierce College offers associate's degrees, mainly in the arts and sciences. There are also certificate programs in early childhood education, social services, dental hygienist, and others. last week. He said many of them projected him to go in the top five rounds. As the minutes dragged on and the Internet site he was engrossed en·gross tr.v. en·grossed, en·gross·ing, en·gross·es 1. To occupy exclusively; absorb: A great novel engrosses the reader. See Synonyms at monopolize. 2. in kept updating each selection, he could see the workouts were not enough proof that he was over the injury. Shields returned from the back strain to post a 5-1 record with 32 strikeouts, allowing 16 hits and eight runs through 28 innings. He will conclude his prep career by playing in the Daily News Bernie Milligan All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game played by the best players in their sports league. The players are often chosen by a popular vote of fans of the sport and the game often occurs at the halfway point of the regular season, although this is not the case for some all-star games on Saturday. Shields will have such weighty subjects on his mind as accepting a scholarship to play at Louisiana State or whatever contract he is offered by the Devil Rays (he's being advised by a family friend). But he said he is excited about interacting with some of the other elite players from the region and can't wait to get into the action. ``It's going to come down to whether I want it real bad or not,'' Shields said of playing professionally this year. ``If they put down a pretty good deal, then I'm going. If not, I'm going to LSU LSU Louisiana State University LSU Large Subunit LSU La Salle University (Philadelphia, PA) LSU La Sierra University LSU Link State Update (OSPF) LSU Learning Support Unit . I'm happy either way. ``It's pretty exciting to get invited to the Milligan game and I'm going to have fun. It's something you can look back on.'' Although Shields said it was an honor to end his prep career with the Bernie Milligan game, he admitted he was also disappointed that Hart was unable to return to the Southern Section championship game. That became an impossibility when Centennial of Corona defeated the Indians 5-4 in the Division II quarterfinals. For now, Shields will concentrate on his big decision and focus his energy on the upcoming summer season. He plans to play for the Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. Foresters, who are in a league primarily for college players. The Foresters have some UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX , USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. and Cal State Northridge team members and will go on a three-city tour of Alaska. ``I'm absolutely proud of him,'' Jack Shields, Jamie's father, said. ``The 16th round is very respectable. He's gone through so much with the injury and trying to battle back. He did that and I couldn't be any more proud of him.'' In addition to feelings of pride Shields elicits from those close to him, many of teammates at Hart were thankful for his presence the past four years. ``There were great opportunities for the rest of us (abuse) for The Rest Of Us - (From the Macintosh slogan "The computer for the rest of us") 1. Used to describe a spiffy product whose affordability shames other comparable products, or (more often) used sarcastically to describe spiffy but very overpriced products. 2. because he brought so many scouts out to our games,'' said senior second baseman Ryan Haag, who accepted a scholarship at CSUN CSUN California State University Northridge . ``It helps having someone like that on your team. It makes you get seen easier.'' SHIELDS FILE Name: Jamie Shields Sport: Baseball Position: Pitcher (right-handed) School: Hart High Season stats: 5-1 record, 28 IP, 32 K, 16 H, 6 ER, 12 BB Drafted by: Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 16th round (466th overall) College: Will accept scholarship to Louisiana State if Devil Rays' offer is too low. CAPTION(S): box Box: SHIELDS FILE (see text) |
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