Sept. 4, 2007
SACRAMENTO, Ca. - Former University of Dayton lefthanded pitcher Jerry Blevins is headed to the Pacific Coast League playoffs after being promoted to Triple-A Sacramento on the final weekend of the regular season.
Sacramento is scheduled to play a best-of-five series with PCL Pacific North Division Champion Salt Lake Bees beginning on Wednesday. The first two games are scheduled for Salt Lake with the final three (if necessary) games to be played at Sacramento. Blevins earned the win in relief during his Rivercat debut on Saturday with four strikeouts and no walks in 2.2 scoreless innings pitched against Tucson.
Blevins has appeared in a total of 56 games this season as a relief pitcher including 17 for Double-A Midland after being dealt as part of the Jason Kendall trade from the Cubs organization to the Oakland farm system on July 17. He was 1-3 with a 3.32 ERA for the RockHounds with 29 strikeouts and just five walks in 21.2 innings pitched.
The Johnson City, TN native began the 2007 season at Single-A Daytona but was promoted to Double-A Tennessee on May 15 after going 1-0 with six saves and a 0.38 ERA in 15 relief appearances. He was 2-2 with three saves and a 1.53 ERA in 23 relief appearances with Tennessee and was a combined 3-2 with nine saves and a 1.02 ERA in 38 relief appearances overall. The 23-year old left-hander walked just 13 while striking out 69 in 53.0 innings and allowed just one home run. He allowed a .190 opponents batting average, including .133 with runners in scoring position. Blevins was originally a 17th round draft pick of the Cubs in the 2004 draft. He was named the 2004 Northwest League (A) Reliever of the Year.
A former walk-on at the University of Dayton, Blevins pitched for the Flyers for three seasons (2002-2004). After throwing just 17.1 innings over eight appearances as a sophomore, Blevins stepped into the weekend rotation as a junior and shined. He led UD in ERA at 3.79 while fashioning a 7-3 record with 70 strikeouts and only 38 walks in 73.2 innings pitched. Blevins also holds the distinction of being the pitcher of record for Dayton's first ever win at Time Warner Cable Stadium on Feb. 28, 2004 in the second game of a doubleheader against Bowling Green.
Dayton finished 21-33 overall and 9-18 in Atlantic 10 Conference play in 2007. The Flyers finished with their seventh 20-win season under the direction of eighth-year Head Coach Tony Vittorio. UD had 29 of its 54 games decided by two runs or less and went 11-18 in those games.
