Travis Beazley Drafted by Red Sox Organization!
Randolph-Macon College senior pitcher Travis Beazley, from Beaverdam, Virginia and Patrick Henry High School in Ashland, has been named an American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings Division III second-team All-American for the 2006 season. He is the Randolph-Macon baseball program’s first-ever All-American on the Division III level. Also, Beazley is the only player in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) to be named an All-American this year, and one of only two players in Virginia along with Shenandoah University junior outfielder Ryan Anderson, who is a third-team selection.
Recently named the ABCA/Rawlings Division III South Region Pitcher of the Year, first-team all-region and first-team all-state by the Virginia Sports Information Directors, Beazley was the 2006 ODAC Pitcher of the Year and first-team all-conference as a pitcher, as well as second-team all-ODAC as a third baseman. He was the conference Pitcher of the Week twice this year, and was also a National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Honorable Mention national Pitcher of the Week once. A transfer to R-MC as a sophomore, Beazley was a team captain all three years with the Yellow Jackets and a two-time team Most Valuable Player.
This season on the mound, Beazley’s numbers included a program single-season record 108 strikeouts, a 1.94 earned run average, and a 9-3 record in 88.0 innings pitched. He struck out an ODAC and R-MC single-game-record 17 batters in the season finale against Newport News Apprentice School May 2nd, picking up a 9-2 win in 8.2 innings, and also broke the school career strikeout record that day, finishing with 216. His nine victories this year tied the program’s record for wins in a season. Beazley was first in the ODAC this year in strikeouts and innings pitched, tied for first in wins and games started (12), and second in opponent-low batting average (.224). In the NCAA, he was ranked ninth in victories and 16th in strikeouts per nine innings. On the R-MC team, Beazley was first in earned run average, opponent-low batting average, wins, innings pitched, strikeouts and games started.
Offensively this season, Beazley batted a team-leading .378 (34-for-90), with five doubles, three triples, one home run and 22 RBIs, and also had four stolen bases and scored 23 runs.
As a junior in 2005, Beazley was named first-team all-ODAC, honorable mention all-state, and honorable mention all-South Region as a third baseman. He was also the conference Pitcher of the Week once last season.
To go along with his athletic honors this year, Beazley was also recently named a College Sports Information Directors/ESPN The Magazine first-team District 3 college division all-academic selection, putting him on the ballot for possible Academic All-American honors. District 3 includes schools in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, and the award is based on both athletic and academic excellence. He is a business/economics major, and graduated from Randolph-Macon Saturday with a final cumulative grade point average of 3.53. Beazley was a Dean’s List student at R-MC, a member of the ODAC all-academic squad, and a R-MC Presidential Scholarship recipient.
This season the R-MC baseball team finished 22-18 overall and 11-7 in the ODAC. The 22 wins tied the program's season record (22-7 in 1977 - records date back to 1949-50). After finishing with no more than 15 wins overall and six Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) victories the previous five seasons, this year was an incredible turnaround for the Yellow Jacket baseball program under second-year head coach Ray Hedrick. Besides the record-tying 22 wins, other achievements for the team included: an overall winning record for the first time since 1996 (15-12); the first conference winning record since 1997 (9-7); and the best conference record since 1995 (11-5 - teams started playing an 18-game schedule when Roanoke baseball began competition in the ODAC in 2003). This year's team was picked to finish just seventh in the ODAC preseason coaches poll, but ended up fourth in the conference regular season and competed in the ODAC tournament for the first time since 1997. Hedrick is a 1997 R-MC graduate and former Yellow Jacket baseball player, as is assistant coach Brian Toland '96. First-year assistant coach Evan Brannon rounded out the staff this season.