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November 9, 2007

Portsmouth's Westmoreland signs letter of intent with Vanderbilt

Portsmouth High School Senior Ryan Westmoreland will be signing a National Letter of Intent to attend Vanderbilt University on a baseball scholarship in the fall of 2008. The signing will take place in the Portsmouth High School library on Wednesday, November 14th at 3:00 pm.

Westmoreland has stood out in the community as a baseball player since 2002, when his Portsmouth Little League team advanced to the finals of the New England Regional Tournament in Bristol, CT, losing to the eventual national runner-up Jesse Burkett of Worcester, MA 1-0.

His accomplishments at the high school level are nothing short of amazing. Statistically, he enters his senior year with a .510 career batting average, accompanied by a .579 on base percentage and a .817 slugging percentage. He needs only 12 hits to break the all-time hits mark at PHS, and several other season and career records are looming. As a pitcher, he is 28-0, with a career .72 ERA and 270 strikeouts in 174 innings, walking only 52. In addition to being the winning pitcher in both the Freshman State Championship game in 2005, and DII Varsity State Championship game in 2006, Westmoreland has been named Division Most Valuable Player, Division Most Outstanding Player, Championship Series MVP, RI Gatorade Player of the Year, Cox Sports Television Baseball Scholar/Athlete of the Year, First Team All-State, Newport County Player of the Year and BCA All District 1 Team. His accomplishments both as a pitcher and offensive player have led to his recruitment by Vanderbilt as a two-way prospect, unique at the Division 1 level.

During this past summer, Westmoreland competed at the highest national level. In 2007 he was selected to participate in the East Coast Professional Showcase in Lakeland, FL, and Area Code Games in Long Beach, CA, two of the most highly regarded and recruited tournaments in the country. Westmoreland was named to the All Area Code team, as well as being ranked 11th overall, 6th position player by ESPN for his performance in those tournaments.

“Ryan is one of the most gifted baseball players, if not one of the most gifted overall athletes to ever come out of Portsmouth High School. This is a result of his tireless work ethic in every endeavor that he undertakes. Though we will certainly miss him, Coach Corbin and the Vanderbilt Baseball program are getting themselves a fine young man. We are very proud of Ryan.” said Portsmouth Head Baseball Coach Dave Ulmschneider.

Vanderbilt University is considered to be one of the top 20 Academic Institutions in the United States, as well as achieving a #1 ranking in Division 1 Collegiate Baseball during most of 2007, and that same ranking going into the NCAA tournament. The Commodores compete in the SEC, considered by many to be the powerhouse conference in Division 1 baseball. They ended their season with a #6 national ranking after falling to Michigan in the Regional tournament. Westmoreland verbally committed to Head Coach Tim Corbin in July.

--PORTSMOUTH HIGH SCHOOL

Posted by Corey Bourassa  at 4:35 PM to High School | Permalink

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