Mike Deese Class: Senior Hometown: Roswell, Ga. High School: St. Francis High School Last College: Young Harris College Height / Weight: 6-0 / 210 Position: 3B/OF Experience: SR B/T: R/R

Mike really came on with the bat toward the end of last season and raised his average over 60 points over his last 32 games. He hopes his finish will carry over to this season as he will be the team's primary third baseman and a middle-of-the-order hitter. Mike hit primarily in the fifth and sixth spots in the order last year and should figure to do more of the same this year. He, along with Joe Blackburn and Cory Wine and possibly Rob Yodice and Rick Marlin should form a formidable and experienced middle of the lineup that is capable of scoring runs in bunches. Deese led the team in multiple-RBI games and should have several more opportunities for multi-RBI performances as he prepares for what hopes to be a monster final collegiate season for the former junior college standout.

Summer 2007: After attending the first summer session of classes at Penn State, Mike was picked up by the Florence Wolves of the Coastal Plains League and played in 12 games, starting 11....Received just 42 at bats, getting seven hits and four RBI along with one sacrifice hit.

"Mike has continued to grow as a ball player after stepping in and producing last year. He had a solid season for us with the bat, and with a year of experience, should improve even more. Deese has continued to work hard despite some injuries and has a big senior year ahead of him. He will see all of his time at third base and will be a major contributor in the middle of our lineup." From the Coaches' Suite

2007 (Junior): Sixth on the team in hitting (.287), third in doubles (12), fifth in RBI (25) and tied for fifth in hits (52)....Tied for sixth on the team in multiple-hit games (13) and led the team in multi-RBI games (8)....Had a season-high hitting streak of seven games....Started 52 games at third base....Was a perfect 6-for-6 in stolen bases this year....Hit .389 the first weekend of the season in Shreveport, La.....Hit .326 over his last 32 games to raise his season average to .287, going up 63 points from his average through his first 20 games....Has made just four errors over his final 28 games of the season....Hit in eight of the last 10 regular season games, which included hitting .467 in the Michigan series, and overall hit in 12 of the last 15 games of the season....Hit .316 (6-for-19) in the Big Ten Tournament with six RBI and had RBI in four of the five Big Ten Tournament games.
Game-by-Game Highlights: Started his Penn State career off well by hitting in all four games in Penn State's opening weekend in Shreveport, La....Went 2-for-4 vs. Kansas State (2-17) and then went 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI, a double and a stolen base in the win over Centenary (2-18)....Scored the first PSU run of the game to begin the comeback in a 3-2 win at North Carolina (3-3)....Scored two runs and went 1-for-4 in the series finale at UNC (3-4)....Went 2-for-4 at Wichita State (3-10)....Scored two runs and went 1-for-3 with an RBI vs. Central Connecticut (3-25)....Hit his first Penn State home run, which was also the first collegiate home run to land in the left field picnic pavillion at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park and went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI vs. Bucknell (4-3)....Followed that up by going 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI vs. Kent State the next night (4-4)....Drove in one run and scored another while going 2-for-4 in the series-opening 3-1 win at Michigan State (4-14)....Went 1-for-5 with two runs scored in the series finale win over the Spartans (4-16)....Collected his second three-hit game of the year with a 3-for-5 performance in which he doubled and scored two runs and also drove in two vs. Mount St. Mary's (4-18)....Drew an important walk in the four-run ninth inning, one of two on the night, in Penn State's come-from-behind win over Northwestern (4-20) in which it entered the ninth trailing by three runs....Had an RBI single and scored in Penn State's five-run first inning vs. Northwestern (4-21)....Reached base safely in four of his five plate appearances and went 2-for-3 with a double in the series opener vs. Indiana (4-27)....Scored two runs and went 2-for-4 in the series finale vs. Purdue (5-6)....Had two hits apiece in three of the four games of the Michigan series (5-12 - 5-13)....Went 2-for-4 and singled and scored on Rick Marlin's game-tying three-run home run in the sixth inning of the second game of the UM series, helping Penn State overcome a 4-0 deficit to win in extra innings (5-12)....Knocked in two runs and went 2-for-3 and also had a sac hit vs. Michigan (5-13)....Went 2-for-5 with two RBI, including an RBI triple in the seven-run seventh inning in the series finale vs. Michigan (5-13)....Scored the tying run just before Brian Ernst was tagged out in a rundown in the eighth inning after doubling to send the game into extra innings in a game Penn State would win in the tenth in the series opener vs. Ohio State (5-18)....Also doubled and scored the tying run in the series finale vs. the Buckeyes (5-20)....Had two RBI and went 1-for-5 vs. Michigan (5-25) in the Big Ten Tournament....Went 3-for-4 with a double and drove in three runs vs. Illinois (5-25) in the Big Ten Tournament.

Summer 2006: Played for the Petersburg Generals of the Coastal Plains League....Played in 24 games, starting all of them, and hit .272 with a home run and 10 RBI....Had 25 hits in 92 at bats, scored eight runs and had a .337 slugging percentage....Was 3-for-4 on stolen bases and made just five errors in 131 chances in the field.

Young Harris College: Played for the Mountain Lions for two years under head coach Rick Robinson....Helped lead the team to GJCAA Championships in both of his years there....Led the team to a 58-11 record and hit .353 with nine home runs and 74 RBI and was named first team All-Conference as a freshman....His 74 RBI ranked seventh in the country....Was a team co-captain and was named to the NJCAA Regional Team after hitting .310 with six home runs as a sophomore....Played third base, first base, left and right field during his time at Young Harris.

St. Francis HS: Earned two varsity letters at St. Francis High in Alpharetta, Ga. under coach Kyle Reese....Was named the Freshman Pitcher and Hitter of the Year as a freshman, helping the team to a 15-0-1 record....Helped lead the team to a 20-10 record as a senior while hitting .567 with nine home runs....Was named All-Area as a senior as well and also served as a team captain....Was a member of the Knights of the Round Table for classroom and athletic leadership.

Background: Mike Ray Deese was born on April 30, 1986 in Fort Worth, Texas....He is the son of Mike and Felicia Deese and is the oldest of six children....He has younger brothers Daniel (19), Bo (15) and Matt (14), and younger sisters Sarah (17) and Rachel (11)....Mike lists playing ping pong and NCAA football as his hobbies....He has career aspirations of becoming a college coach and is majoring in kinesiology.