COD Baseball freshman short stop Ryan Rodriguez (Rancho Mirage H.S.) has signed a letter of intent with Southern Illinois University.

The 6-1, 180-pound freshman from Rancho Mirage High School played one season with the Roadrunners, received first team All-Pacific Coast Athletic Conference. Even though Rodriguez missed over a month of the season, from February 23, 2019 to March 27, 2019, he still placed third on the team in hits, with 36 collected on the season. He also tied for third in RBIs, bringing 17 teammates across the plate in 2019. He was place 10th in PCAC and led the team in assists, as he gathered 83 on the season. His best game was on April 19th at Imperial Valley where he had 6 at bats, 1 run, 4 hits, 1 double, and 3 RBIs.

Rodriguez played 26 games at short stop in 2019, one game at second base and was brought in to pinch run once. He also spent the bulk of his time hitting out of the two hole, 19 times he batted second, five times hitting out of the three hole and three times he batted sixth in the lineup in 2019.

Southern Illinois University is located in Carbondale, Illinois, which is about 60 miles north of the Kentucky/Missouri state line and is about 100 miles southeast of St. Louis, Missouri. The SIU Salukis play at the Itchy Jones Stadium and the team is coached by 2nd year head coach, Lance Rhodes. In the 2019 season, the Salukis were 5-16 in conference play finishing 8th, with an overall record of 26-29. In the 2020 season, the Salukis were 12-6 in non-Conference play when the season ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Southern Illinois is in the Missouri Valley Conference of the NCAA Division One.

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Information, Photo & Story provided by COD Sports Information.