Baseball (Texas) adds Oral Roberts transfer

[ORUalum]

LINK

Baseball adds Oral Roberts transfer

7/12/2007 8:06 PM

By: UT Media Relations

AUSTIN, Texas -- The University of Texas baseball squad added Oral Roberts University transfer Marcus Tackett to the roster for the 2008 season on Thursday.

Tackett, a 6-foot, 1-inch, 190-pound right-hander, pitched in 12 games for Oral Roberts as a freshman in 2007, including nine starts. He logged a 3-2 record with a 4.56 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 49.1 innings. Tackett also saw action at third base and designated hitter on the season, appearing in 21 games, including 16 starts. He hit .231 with one home run and seven RBI. Tackett was ORU?s starting pitcher for game two of its three-game series with Texas this season. He pitched 4.2 innings allowing two runs on six hits and one walk and did not factor into the decision in a 5-3 Texas win.

Tackett missed the entire 2006 season after having shoulder surgery. A graduate of Tulsa?s Memorial High School, he pitched his prep squad to a 6A state quarterfinal as a junior with a 6-4 record and 1.37 ERA. He also was a career .391-hitter with 18 home runs and 102 RBI in high school.

With the signing of Tackett, Texas has 16 players inked to join the squad for next spring. Seven of the Longhorns? signees were drafted in last June?s draft and have until Aug. 15 to decide whether to sign a contract or play collegiately. Drafted signees include Brandon Workman (3rd round Philadelphia Phillies), Taylor Grote (8th round New York Yankees), Brandon Belt (11th round Atlanta Braves), Runey Davis (11th round Pittsburgh Pirates), Kevin Keyes (26th round Texas Rangers) and Garrett Clyde (43rd round Chicago Cubs) and Cameron Rupp (43rd round - Pittsburgh Pirates).

[tmh8286]

Hate to hear that.  It's always nice to see players from the local area do well at ORU, and Tackett had  a chance to be one of them.  It would be nice to know what prompted this move.  It shows the kind of kids we're getting at ORU, when they leave ORU and can transfer to a team like Texas.

[Bogus Smith]

I've got to believe that Tackett found it frustrating to compete for playing time against McQuigg (3B) and Steven Pearson & Brian VanKirk (DH) last season.  Although Marcus did a great job for us, I'll bet a change in scenary will be just what the doctor ordered to help Marcus mature and develop. 

Granted, Marcus will get to play against some of the best teams in the country with the Big 12 and other teams playing against Texas (including, probably us), but he will be the same size fish in a bigger pond.  One thing that we have found out recently is that you can still get drafted in the upper rounds through ORU.