Southeast basketball, baseball sign early recruits

~ Redhawks add pure point guard from Raytown, Mo.; former North County standout Adam Howard to play baseball at Southeast.

As expected, the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball program has landed its second high school player from the Kansas City area.

Roderick Pearson, a 6-foot-2 senior point guard at Raytown South, signed a national letter of intent Friday, the second day of the week-long early signing period.

Pearson averaged 12 points, six assists and three steals per game last season playing for Bud Lathrop, the state's all-time winningest boys basketball coach who also ranks high on the national list.

Toledo, Dayton and Illinois State were among other programs that showed considerable interest in Pearson.

"He's a true point guard who is very explosive," Southeast coach Gary Garner said. "He is an excellent ballhandler and passer, and he really knows how to distribute the basketball.

"He's also a solid defensive player and a good student who has already made his test score."

Lathrop, who has sent a number of players to the Division I ranks -- including former Missouri star Jevon Crudup -- said Pearson is an extremely quick pure point guard.

"He needs to continue working on his shot, but he can really distribute the ball," said Lathrop, whose squad went 21-6 last year and is expected to be among the state's top teams this season. "He'll be an excellent college player because of his speed and quickness."

On Thursday, Southeast signed 6-6 forward JaJuan Maxwell, a senior at Raytown High School, where he averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds per game last season.

"We're really happy to sign these two high school players early," Garner said. "We've only got one freshman this year, and we'll have a lot of players coming back for next season, so it's good to add some freshmen to balance out our classes."

Baseball lands eight

Southeast baseball coach Mark Hogan on Friday announced the signing of eight players during the early period.

Headlining the group are junior college sophomores Adam Howard and Dustin Renfrow. Both were selected in this year's amateur baseball draft.

Howard, a former standout at North County High School, batted .365 with 16 home runs and 72 RBIs as a freshman infielder last season at Meramec Community College in St. Louis.

Howard, who also saw some mound action, was drafted in the 33rd round by the Florida Marlins. Hogan called him "arguably the best junior college position player in Missouri."

Renfrow started his freshman season at Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Mo., as a catcher before being converted to pitcher, and he also pitched this past summer for the Capahas. He was drafted in the 39th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

"Both guys have been clocked in the low 90s," said Hogan of Howard and Renfrow. "They really have great arms."

The Redhawks landed another junior college sophomore in pitcher Ivan Nails from Southwest Tennessee State Community College.

Also signing were five high school seniors: pitcher/third baseman Nick Harris from Alabaster, Ala.; pitcher/outfielder Derek Hayden from Shelbyville, Ill.; catcher Ryon Fields from Magnolia, Texas; outfielder/catcher Greg Dambach from St. Louis (Oakville) and third baseman/catcher Jim Klocke from St. Louis (Vianney).

"We really feel good about all eight. It's one of the more intriguing classes we've signed in a while. We feel like we hit a home run," Hogan said. "My assistant coaches [Scott Southard and Jeff Dodson] deserve a lot of credit. They did a great job."