Former Reds Draft Pick Mike Hampton Leads First Seed St John's University

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Dateline: Cincinnati 

Mike Hampton was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the fourth round of the 1994 draft. CJ Nitkowski of St. John's University was round one and Aaron Boone was in round three.

Hampton who played collegiately at Clemson University was in the Reds organization for four years. He was teammates with Jason LaRue, Brett Tomko, John Riedling Dave Concepcion and Stephen Larkin.

Now Hampton is the head coach of the number one seed, St. John's Red Storm, in the Big East Baseball Tournament at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio.

The Red Storm defeated the Creighton University Blue Jays in the first game of the tournament vying for an automatic bid in the NCAA World Series, starting next week.

Liam O'Leary a junior right hander from Souderton, Pennsylvania hand cuffed the Blue Jay, 4-2 pitching eight innings, allowing one run on seven hits and three walks. He struck out six.

As a junior he is eligible for the Major League Draft in July.

"He is outstanding," Hampton said. "I really think he had a chance to be Pitcher of the Year in the Conference. He's been so great for us all year long. He had three complete games in conference."

O'Leary started 14 games for the Red Storm. He had a 7-4 record with a 3.03 ERA. He had one shut out. O'Leary pitche 92 innings, walking 21 and striking out 62.

"He's just a bulldog," Hampton said. "He competes. He gets after it. He is definitely going to be playing professional baseball sometime soon.  I hate to lose him but he's going to be a pro."

Leadoff hitter, Jon LeGrande is another big league prospect at St. John's. The center fielder hit .317 for the season. He had a .405 on-base-percentage. The senior hit 13 doubles, a triple and six home runs. He led St. John's with 66 runs scored and 22 stolen bases in 31 attempts.

"He's a table setter for us. Defensively, he's been outstanding," Hampton said. "When he's going, we're going."

Hampton attended Redsfest in the winter of 1994 with Nitkowski and Boone. He played at Charleston, West Virginia with Stephen Larkin, the brother of Reds' Hall of Famer. Barry Larkin and Xavier basketball great, Byron Larkin.

"Steve's one of my best friends," Hampton said. "He's outstanding. I love him. I used to hang out with Steve and Barry and Deion (Sanders) at the time. They were a good crew."