[Sly Fox]

Here's another Pennsylvanian heading south to Lynchburg:

Warrior trio to continue baseball careers in college
By Bruce Morgan - Record Express Sports Editor
Lititz Record Express

Published: Jul 06, 2006 9:40 AM EST

LITITZ, PA - With Kent Gerdes, Alex Hart, and Jordan Zimmerman batting in the middle of the order, the Warriors had a formidable threesome.

Combined, they batted .376 with 9 homers, 53 RBI’s, and 36 runs scored. Zimmerman received First-Team All-Section 1 honors ... Zimmerman will be trying to walk-on at Liberty University.

Zimmerman, meanwhile, is hoping to hang with Division-I Liberty University. Shorty after he reports to the Lynchburg, Va. campus, he will try to earn one of three walk-on spots with the Flames in tryouts at the end of August.

“I really wanted to challenge myself,” Zimmerman said. “I thought that I could play at a Division-III college, for sure. But I wanted to challenge myself to play at the highest level of college and be the best I could be. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out, but that’s my goal.”

He also visited Lock Haven, Grove City, Messiah, and the University of Pittsburgh. In fact, Zimmerman was giving serious thought to heading to the Steel City, but he preferred the rural, countryside location of Liberty to that of Pitt.

“I decided I didn’t want to live in a city there,” said Zimmerman, who will major in accounting. “And I wanted a smaller, Christian atmosphere &tstr; that’s another reason I chose (Liberty).”

Zimmerman earned First-Team accolades as an outfielder after batting .411 (23-for-56) with a team-best 5 home runs and 16 singles. He also had 18 RBI’s, scored 14 runs, and struck out just four times in 60 plate appearances.

“(Being named First-Team) was a goal before the season started,” Zimmerman said.

His five round-trippers were a season-high, “dating back to Little League years.” One of those was a mammoth shot in Warwick’s 8-1 win over Garden Spot on April 24.

“I think that’s the longest ball I’ve ever hit in my life,” Zimmerman said.

“The guys joked that I hit it off the dent in my bat, but that is just not true,” he laughed.

Zimmerman was also solid on the mound as Warwick’s ace, and he earned Honorable Mention as a pitcher after going 3-2, 3.82 ERA in six starts, with 27 K’s and 17 walks in 33 IP.

“Jordan was Mr. Consistency all year, hitting and being our No. 1 guy pitching,” Brown remarked. “He really was consistent. He came up to the plate and you knew he was going to put the bat on the ball somehow, someway.”

This past year, Liberty established a school record for wins at the Division-I level of competition while going 39-21.

Led by pitcher Michael Solbach, who was drafted in the 48th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks, and second baseman Michael Just, who broke the Liberty single-season hit record, the Flames advanced to the 2006 Bojangles Big South Championship, where they suffered a 15-11 loss to the UNC Asheville Bulldogs.

With Solbach and others on a solid Liberty pitching staff, Zimmerman figures his best shot to make the team will be as an outfielder.

“I think I’ve shown over my senior year that hitting is a strength of mine,” Zimmerman said. “And as a fielder in the outfield, I think that’s one of my strengths. I have to work on my arm strength &tstr; that’s one of the weaknesses of mine.”

http://lititzrecord.com/pages/news/local/4/23927