Oct. 23, 2004
DETROIT, MI-- Justin Verlander (Goochland, VA.), the all-time strikeoutleader in ODU, CAA and Virginia Collegiate Baseball history signed withthe Detroit Tigers Friday. Verlander was the second overall selectionin the June Major League Baseball draft.
The righthander earned first team All-CAA and All-State honors and wasa second team ABCA All-Region selection last season. Verlander finishedhis career at ODU with a 21-18 record with 427 strikeouts in 335.2 inningspitched which is 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings.
This past season, Verlander fanned an ODU, CAA and Virginia Collegiatesingle season record of 151 batters in just 105.2 innings. Verlanderhelped Team USA earn the silver medal in last summers Pan Am games. Healso fanned 17 batters in a game twice against JMU, last year and asa freshman. He was a finalist for the inaugural Roger Clemens award asthe nation's top collegiate pitcher. Verlander was selected by the ODUAlumni Association as the Male Athlete of the Year.