Shaw baseball’s Bubba Pearson signs with Andrew College

Shaw baseball’s 2017 season ended on April 20, but the Raiders weren’t done having big moments quite yet.

On Wednesday, the Raiders saw one of their own prepare to play collegiately, as senior pitcher Bubba Pearson signed with Andrew College in Cuthbert, Ga. Pearson, a submarine-style pitcher, becomes the first Shaw player under head coach Pat McGregor to sign a collegiate baseball scholarship.

“It’s exciting for us,” McGregor said. “We’ve had some guys with walk-on opportunities, but Bubba’s the first guy to sign from Shaw in a couple years. That was something that made everybody proud.”

Pearson logged plenty of work in his final season at Shaw, throwing 30.1 innings. He posted a 3-3 record in 11 appearances while striking out 30 batters and posting a 2.54 ERA. His contributions came in one of Shaw’s best seasons in recent memory, as the team beat Columbus for the first time in over 10 years and remained in the thick of a tight subregion race.

McGregor said Pearson changed his pitching mechanics from the conventional style to the low-arm action in the offseason between his sophomore and junior seasons. The transition wasn’t an easy one, but thanks to the consistent work Pearson put into the endeavor, he eventually became one of the Raiders’ most reliable arms.

“It can be frustrating when you first start throwing with a new arm angle and being able to do it consistently,” McGregor said. “He kept working at it, and he’s been really effective for us.”

Pearson is set to join an Andrew College baseball program which will feature some familiar faces, including Hardaway senior Chandler Griggs. If Pearson can carry his work ethic with him, he may prove just as big an asset for the Fighting Tigers.

“He’s not scared to work,” McGregor said. “He’ll come in, he puts his work in and does things he needs to do to be successful.”

Pearson’s signing puts an exclamation point on a strong year for Shaw baseball, and in McGregor’s eyes, it might be the start of a trend. With a few years passing since the last time a Raiders player went to the next level on scholarship, this signing ceremony could prove to be the first of many to come in near future.

“Hopefully, it shows the guys coming back that if you come in, work hard and do what the coaches tell you, you’ll have an opportunity to go on and play at the next level,” McGregor said. “That’s all of them’s goal, and we want that for them.

“You can come to Shaw, do what you have to do and have the opportunity to continue playing.”

This story was originally published May 9, 2017 at 9:48 AM with the headline "Shaw baseball’s Bubba Pearson signs with Andrew College."