OMAHA, Neb. - With four Cardinals in the 2019 Top Draft Prospects list and another Cardinal listed as an impact freshman, Lamar University's baseball team was well represented Monday in the 2019 D1Baseball Southland Conference Preview. JC Correa, Jason Blanchard, Robin Adames, and Jorge Gutierrez were all predicted as potential draft picks and Dylan Johnson was projected as an impact freshman.

"It's exciting that five different players on our team are recognized as top prospects by D1Baseball," said Davis. "I think it is a testament to the talent that we have in this program."

As covered in the position preview articles heading into this season, each of the five Cardinals recognized by D1Baseball are expected to make significant contributions on and off the field in 2019. Blanchard, Adames, and Johnson all received previous national attention from Perfect Game, and Correa and Gutierrez come into the year with some national attention of their own - Correa was drafted in the 33rd round of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Houston Astros and Gutierrez was recognized as part of a Top 100 recruiting class for Lamar. Each of the five Big Red student-athletes has a short bio below.

ROBIN ADAMES – SR. – INF – BRONX, N.Y. – JAMES MONROE HS
A two-time All-SLC bat, Robin Adames returns for his fourth season with the Cardinals looking to capture career records. The Bronx, N.Y., native is just over 60 hits away from the LU career hits record and with a career average of 65 hits a season he'll have plenty of chances to achieve that mark. He hit .298 for the year in 2018, second on the team, and led the team in hits (62), RBIs (33), runs scored (27), doubles (12), home runs (5), total bases (89), hits-by-pitch (12), plate appearances (241), at-bats (208), games started (55), fielding chances (425), and putouts (389). He also led the team in multi-hit games with 19 on the year including a 5-of-6 performance at Nicholls with a double and two RBIs. He was also a 2018 Summer League All-Star in the Texas Collegiate League where he tied for fourth in homers hit, sixth in doubles, ninth in RBIs, and eighth in stolen bases.

JC CORREA – JR. – INF – SANTA ISABEL, P.R. – ALVIN CC (PR BASEBALL ACADEMY)
The younger brother of Houston Astros phenom Carlos Correa, JC comes to Lamar from Alvin Community College where he hit .364 in 80 career games with a .432 OBP and a .491 slugging percentage. He totaled 103 career hits with three home runs and 50 RBIs and earned a nod as a Perfect Game Impact Junior College transfer. He drew 37 walks while striking out just 33 times and was five-of-six in career stolen base attempts. He was drafted in the 33rd Round by the Houston Astros in the 2018 MLB Draft.

JORGE GUTIERREZ – JR. – C – FORT BEND, TEXAS – ALVIN CC / TEXAS A&M (KEMPNER HS)
Gutierrez played in 37 games for Texas A&M in 2017, including 22 starts, and he hit .214 with 13 runs, three doubles, one triple, and four home runs. He collected 16 RBIs with two stolen bases and registered a .337 OBP and .417 slugging percentage. Gutierrez was especially dangerous with runners in scoring position, hitting .333 on the year.

In his 42 games at Alvin CC Gutierrez hit .295 / .614 / .391 with 39 hits including seven doubles, one triple, and 11 homers. He scored 25 runs and drove in another 40, and he drew 21 walks. As a catcher he fielded at .979 in 233 total chances with a 25.8 caught stealing percentage, picking off eight runners.

JASON BLANCHARD - SR. - LHP - KINGWOOD, TEXAS – McCLENNAN JC (KINGWOOD PARK HS)
Blanchard came to Lamar from McClennan Community College where he played one season after playing at Rhode Island his freshman year. Blanchard was a force coming out of high school with a 0.99 ERA and a 17-5 record, earning All-District nods twice and a First-Team All-Area selection. He returned to form in his first season with Lamar, starting in 12 of his 13 appearances. He ranked second on the team in ERA among qualifying pitchers (3.49) and in starts (12), and he allowed just 20 walks with a .269 opposing batting average. He worked through 59.1 innings with 50 strikeouts.

DYLAN JOHNSON – FR. – LHP – SPLENDORA, TEXAS – SPLENDORA HS
Johnson was a four-year letterman in baseball and three years in basketball in high school, and steadily improved in each of his seasons on the mound – turning a 2015 Second Team All-District nod as a rookie into leading the state of Texas in strikeouts his senior year. He worked a career 2.32 ERA through 136 innings of work with 248 strikeouts while walking just 99 with 45 earned runs. He allowed just 69 hits in 623 career batters faced. His 0.81 ERA through 52 innings his senior season was one of the best in the state, and he struck out 111 batters while walking just 25 in 2018, an impressive 4.44 strikeouts to batters walked ratio.

In addition several other Cards - Noah Sills, Grason Wright, Ryan Erickson, Jack Dallas, and Anthony Quirion - were mentioned as players to watch in 2019. The Cards are picked to finish fifth in the Southland Conference according to D1Baseball.