June 18, 2003
Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky starting pitcher Andy Baldwin (Campbellsville, Ky.) has elected to forgo his final season on the Hill and signed to play professional baseball with the Detroit Tigers. Baldwin was selected in the 15th round of the 2003 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
"We are all very excited for Andy and the opportunity he has to play pro baseball," said Western head coach Joel Murrie. "Obviously, when you lose a player of Andy's caliber who has a year of elgibility left it is a tough loss. However, I feel it is not only a compliment to the type of player Andy is, but also to our program, that he is getting a chance to follow his dream of playing professional baseball."
Baldwin is currently on the roster of the Oneonta Tigers in the Class A New York-Penn League. In three seasons at Western, the righthander posted a 12-9 record and a 4.43 ERA. As a junior, Baldwin led Western in strikeouts (66), innings pitched (102) and complete games (2). His 3.97 ERA and six wins were second to Matt Wilhite (Sr., Franklin, Ky.). Baldwin threw a one-hit, complete game, shutout versus Wright State in his second start of the year and was named Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week for his efforts.
Baldwin was the first of two Western Kentucky players selected in the 2003 draft and is the third player from the 2003 team to sign a professional contract. The Baltimore Orioles selected former shortstop Travis Brown (Kankakee, Ill.) in the 27th round. Matt Wilhite (Franklin, Ky.) signed recently to play for the Kenosha (Wis.) Mammouths of the independent Frontier League. Baldwin is the third Hilltopper pitcher to play in the New York-Penn League in the last three seasons. Last season, Ryan Bicondoa played for Staten Island (N.Y.), while Ryan Hutchison played for Batavia (N.Y.) in 2001.
