During an early season home loss in February, UALR outfielder Ryan Scott went hitless in four at bats while striking out three times.
Afterward, UALR assistant coach Russell Raley had some encouraging words for the senior from North Little Rock.
All-American
• UALR outfielder Ryan Scott was named first-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball newspaper Thursday, the first Trojan to earn such an honor. Scott, a North Little Rock graduate, ranked among the top 10 in several categories this season while also being named Sun Belt Conference player of the year.
CATEGORY STAT SBC NCAA DIV. I
Average .435 First Second
SLG .713 First Sixth
OBP .516 First Ninth
Hits 94 First Fourth
RBI 66 First 10th
Runs 56 First 54th
NOTE Scott’s totals for average, hits and RBI were single-season school records
"He just told me, 'If you want to be a really good player, tomorrow is more important than this game. It will show if you're a good player or not,' " Scott recalled Thursday. "I always kept that in the back of my mind."
In a doubleheader the next day, Scott had three hits while driving in three runs. He homered while driving in three runs the day after, using that advice to springboard himself to a record-breaking senior season.
Scott ended up hitting .435 -- a school record that ranks second among Division I players this season -- while also breaking UALR records for hits (94), RBI (66) and total bases (154) and the career record for doubles (44). The Sun Belt Conference player of the year received his highest honor Thursday, when Collegiate Baseball newspaper named him as one of 17 first-team All-Americans.
Scott is the only player from Arkansas on this year's team, and he's the first UALR player ever to be named a first-team All-American by any source.
He learned about the honor Thursday morning while driving to a workout. It's an honor he always wanted, he said, but didn't necessarily think was possible -- until this season when he started hitting in mid-February and never stopped.
"It's kind of weird to look at it all; it's kind of hard to process," Scott said. "It was a long season, and I was obviously happy about it, but it's a lot to take."
Scott, who returned to UALR after being passed over in the MLB Draft last year, said he didn't really look at his numbers until this past week, after UALR had been eliminated from the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Along with his .435 average and 94 hits, he was sixth nationally with a .713 slugging percentage, ninth in on-base percentage (.516), tied for 10th nationally with 66 RBI and led the Sun Belt with 56 runs. He also hit 12 home runs, which was good for third in the conference.
Scott was hitless in only eight of 54 games.
"We started off with, 'Well, goodness, Ryan is hot,' " UALR Coach Chris Curry said. "Then, it was, 'Wow, Ryan is having a great first half, we'll see how the scouting report treats him, we'll see how he gets pitched differently.' And it just kind of never went away."
Curry said the output was more impressive considering the competition. Against Louisiana-Lafayette, which is hosting an NCAA regional this weekend, Scott was 6 for 12 and drove in nine runs in three games. In two games against South Alabama's Ken Hill, who was named the Sun Belt's top pitcher and overall male athlete, he went 4 for 6 with a home run and 3 RBI.
"He kept getting clutch hit after clutch hit after clutch hit," Curry said. "Those numbers aren't soft numbers. Those are legit."
Scott now is focusing on next week's draft, which begins Thursday. He said he has yet to hire representation and isn't sure about his prospects. But Curry, who lobbied scouts that he knew to take Scott a year ago, thinks he could go in the first 10 rounds.
"Obviously, no one ever knows who is going to go when and where, and there are so many factors," Curry said. "But I still feel that's the caliber of player that he is. I know he's good enough to go in that range."
Sports on 06/03/2016