Baseball signs 3rd winter break transfer
4-Year Transfer Clay Longo Commits to DCC
Baseball has relied on coaching connections once again to sign LHP Clay Longo from 4 year, Tennessee Wesleyan University.
TWU pitching Coach Brad Neffendorf and DCC Head Baseball Coach, Chris Lewis, go back a long time. “Neff called me and asked if we needed any left handed pitching at break, since we didn’t have a single left handed arm on the staff, I about jumped out of my chair. He started telling me about Clay and his situation and I started to get a little excited. Then he starts breaking down Clay as a pitcher and now I am really excited. After one phone conversation with Clay, I knew we needed him in our program.”
Longo, played 2 years of varsity baseball at Northeast High School in Clarksville, Tennessee, throwing 28.1 innings in 7 starts. He finished his high school career with a 4-2 record, 1 save, 4.7 ERA and 51 strikeouts. “The ability to put hitters away is vital in college and his numbers speak for themselves.” After his junior year, he spent the summer playing for the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and following high school graduation, he played for The Clarksville Orioles 18U.
Tennessee Wesleyan University is an NAIA institution and member of the Appalachian Athletic Conference. Last season TWU finished 3rd in the NAIA World Series and saw two pitchers taken in the MLB draft. “Coach Neff does a great job with pitchers and he believes in Clay as a person and he believes in his ability, Clay is just one fix away from being special. That is our job now, try to help him with that one mechanical fix. I have no doubt he will be a difference maker on the mound, but also for the culture of our program. This fall he pitched 7 innings for TWU, gave up 3 hits and struck out 12, so we are excited to add him to our pitching staff.”
Longo comments on why he chose DCC Baseball “I chose to go to Dawson Community College for two main reasons. My old coach at Tennessee Wesleyan University had very high praise for Coach Lewis. I trust his judgement and I knew I was going somewhere with a great coach. The other reason was for the conversations that I had with Coach Lewis and Coach Glant. From talking with them I could tell that they know what they are talking about and that they will have a lot to teach me, and more importantly, that they will want to teach me these things. I look forward to contributing to the success of the team at Dawson and preparing to play at the next level.”
