Jackets Add Pair of Pitchers (8/6/07)

BILLINGS, Mont. – Montana State University Billings baseball coach Chris Brown announced Monday that he has added two pitchers to the roster. Brian Howe of Whitefish, Mont., and Andy Barham of Bozeman, Mont., will join the Jackets this fall for the 2008 season.

Howe is a 5-foot-9 lefty who split time between Whitefish and California. He graduated from Valencia High School in Valencia, Calif., in 2006 and did not attend college last year. Howe earned all-conference and all-state honors at Valencia and also played for the Lake Havasu All-Stars.

“We are extremely excited about the addition of Brian,” said Brown. “He gives us another lefty and is a guy who will compete for a weekend spot in the rotation. He is definitely a guy that will be an impact player on and off the field. He is a strong student, is passionate about baseball, and is a good person. We expect Brian to be an inning eater as well as a guy that gives us a chance to win every time he gets the ball.  He has a bulldog mentality on the mound and expects to succeed every time he steps on the field.”

Barham is a 6-foot-4 right handed pitcher who graduated in 2005 from Bozeman High School and played two years at Columbia Basin College. He was an all-state tight end for the Hawks’ football team and played Legion baseball for the Bozeman Bucks. At Columbia Basin, Barham pitched 22 1/3 innings of relief last year with a 4.03 ERA. As a freshman he pitched 15 1/3 innings with a 1.76 ERA.

“Andy is guy that we went after out of high school, so we have been keeping an eye on him for the last two years,” Brown said. “He had an outstanding career as a Buck and followed it up with a solid career at CBC. We look for him to continue that success here at MSUB.  He is a big, strong, athletic kid that will give us a power arm on the mound as well as depth in the outfield. Andy is a hard working guy that has had success at every level, and we expect his work ethic and attitude to be contagious on and off the field.”