Eau Claire, Wis. – The Express front office today announced two more verbal commitments to the 2014 roster. Pitcher Daulton Jefferies and outfielder Jeff Hendrix join the previous nine commitments to Eau Claire’s roster to bring the total to 11 for 2014. Jefferies is a freshman from the University of California and Hendrix is a sophomore from Oregon State University.
Jefferies is a 5-foot-11-inch, 175-pound right-handed pitcher for the Golden Bears. In four starts this spring, he is 2-1 with a 3.80 earned run average. In 21.1 innings pitched he has 16 strikeouts compared to only six walks. As a senior at Buhach Colony High School, Jefferies was named the 2013 Central California Conference Player of the Year after setting a school record and ranking third in the state with 142 strikeouts on the mound. The Atwater, Calif. native was twice named league MVP in high school. Daulton’s brother Jake played for the Express in 2007 as a catcher and continued to play in the Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays’ organizations.
Hendrix is a 5-foot-11-inch, 191-pound outfielder. The Corvallis, Ore. native saw action in 32 games as a freshman for the Beavers, including four starts, and batted .259 with three doubles. Hendrix had an impressive athletic career at Santiam Christian High School as he played basketball, baseball and football. He was the starting shooting guard on the basketball team and named first-team all-league and second-team all-state as a senior. Hendrix played running back, wide receiver, kicker and punter in football and was named all-league three years and all-state as a kicker and wide receiver in his senior season. In baseball he earned first-team all-state honors as a senior, batting .500 with 12 doubles, seven triples, seven home runs and 31 runs batted in with 30 stolen bases. The sophomore is off to a hot start this spring with eight hits in 15 at-bats, which is good for a .533 batting average.
The Express begin their 10th season of play in the Northwoods League on Tuesday, May 27 versus the Lakeshore Chinooks. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 PM with gates opening at 5:30. Season tickets and voucher packs are on sale now. Single-game tickets will go on sale May 1. The full promotional schedule for 2014 will be announced on April 1.
The Eau Claire Express are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 21st season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 115 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (DET) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Allen Craig (STL) and Ben Zobrist (TB). All league games are viewable live and free of charge via the Northwoods League YouTube channel. For more information, visit www.eauclaireexpress.com.