CSU baseball signs eight

Charleston Southern baseball coach Stuart Lake and his staff have announced their first recruiting class, signing eight players for the 2010 season during the early signing period.

The class includes four players from South Carolina, and two each from North Carolina and Georgia.

Kyle Ward, a left-handed pitcher and first baseman from Georgetown High School; Shane Miles an outfielder from Lake City High School; Ali Williams, a right-handed pitcher from Crestwood High School and USC-Salkhatchie Junior College and Jaren Sustar, a third baseman from Hanna High School in Anderson stayed in state to play with the Bucs.

From North Carolina are catcher Drew Woodall of Cary and middle infielder Brandon McKinney from Oak Ridge.

Jon Matthews, an outfielder from Marietta, and Grayson Wiggins, a middle infielder from Statesboro represent the Georgia contributions to the list of signees.

Recent changes by the NCAA have continued to impact recruiting according to Lake.

"We are now limited to 27 scholarships and a roster of 35, but more importantly, the minimum scholarship that we can offer is 25 percent. It makes finding solid players that can contribute early very important. Two-way players are also at a premium, which is why we feel so fortunate with our first class."

Charleston Southern will start its season Feb. 20 by hosting Marist in a three-game series.