News Release

Pacific Baseball: LHP Joey Centanni Signs With Baltimore Orioles As Free Agent

(June 17, 2009) -

Recent graduate Joey Centanni signed with the Baltimore Orioles as a free agent to continue his baseball career after college. Primarily serving as a LHP for the Tigers, Centanni can also fill a utility role, but will start out as a pitcher with the Gulf Coast Orioles in rookie ball in Minor League Baseball.

Putting an exclamation point on his four-year career at Pacific, Centanni starred as the Tigers' ace on the pitching staff, designated hitter, outfielder and first baseman to earn the second and final All-Big West Conference honor of his career as the conference tabbed him second team as a utility.

He was also a vital player in the batters' box, helping to advance runners in a number of situations as Centanni led the squad in both sacrifice flies (6) and bunts (11), which placed him in fifth and third place, respectively, among the Big West's top 10 hitters. Centanni finished up the year with Pacific's fourth-best batting average, hitting .347 with a .415 on base percentage. Joey also notched the second most stolen bases in 2009, going 7-for-12 on the base paths. As a pitcher, he recorded the team's second-best ERA with a 4.82 mark and led the staff in wins (5), complete games (3), strikeouts (44) and innings pitched (99.0).

As a hitter, Centanni closed out his collegiate career with a four-year .326 batting average, .436 slugging percentage and .402 on base percentage. On the mound the lefty tossed six complete games in his career and established a 4.00 ERA, highlighted by his stellar 2.77 ERA as a freshman in 12 starts. Joey totaled 267.2 innings pitched in four years at Pacific and won 11 decisions with 116 career strikeouts.

Centanni is the only Tiger from the 2009 squad who will play professional baseball. Follow Joey and the Gulf Coast Orioles here.