Nov. 17, 2016
NLI Signing Central
SAN JOSE, Calif. - San José State baseball is welcoming four 2016 honorable mention preseason underclassmen All-Americans along with a power hitter with 12 career homers to his credit, among 13 prospective student-athletes that signed National Letters-of-Intent. Spartans head coach Jason Hawkins made the announcement.
Hawkins' inaugural recruiting class includes four pitchers, two catchers, five infielders and two outfielders.
Ruben Ibarra, a 6-foot-4, 240 pound first baseman from St. Francis High in Watsonville, Calif. is expected to make an immediate contribution with his power and presence in the lineup. In his three-year varsity career, Ibarra has belted 12 home runs and drove in 57 runs in 59 games, while batting .346.
Three left-handed pitchers are part of the four-pitcher class, headlined by Brandon Ross from Vista Murrieta High in Murrieta, Calif and Nick Morales from St. John Bosco High in Bellflower, Calif. The lefty Ross and Morales, the lone right hander, were both named honorable mention preseason high school underclassmen All-Americans by PerfectGame, one of the most respected baseball scouting services.
Southpaws Wesley Clawson (Red Bluff, Calif., Red Bluff HS) and Clayton Westrope (Livermore, Calif., Livermore HS) add depth to the Spartans pitching staff.
Clawson, along with catcher Sam Olsson (Eugene, Ore., Sheldon HS) are two of the three players that played quarterback on their high school teams with infielder Jason Dumont (Portland, Ore., Sunset HS) being the other, bringing athleticism to the diamond. Dumont was a 2016 honorable mention preseason All-American.
Another honorable mention All-American honoree is catcher Aaron Roose from Paraclete High in Lancaster, Calif.
Santiago Cantu (Patterson, Calif., Patterson HS), Ryan Guardino (Santa Barbara, Calif., San Marcos HS) and Cody Stevenson (Fremont, Calif., Kenneday HS) will compete for the infield positions.
Hawkins and his staff signed Jack Colette (Bellflower, Calif., St. John Bosco HS) and Connor Konishi (La Mesa, Calif., Helix HS) that are multi-position players. Both have the potential to help the Spartans on both sides of the ball as outfielders and/or pitchers. Konishi rounds out the honorable mention All American list for the Spartans.
The signees will join the Spartans in the fall of 2017.
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