SOUTH POINT – There is someone Jamie Douglas has surprised this year besides opposing batters: himself.

Tuesday, June 19, 2001

SOUTH POINT – There is someone Jamie Douglas has surprised this year besides opposing batters: himself.

The South Point Pointers weren’t suppose to win the Ohio Valley Conference baseball title, but they did, and one of the main reasons was senior pitcher/first baseman Jamie Douglas.

Douglas only pitched in one game last year and hit .330 as the Pointers won the OVC. But Douglas blossomed during the past year and became the ace of the Pointers pitching staff as well as batting .398 including a .570 slugging percentage.

"I was real surprised at how well I did," said Douglas.

"But everybody kept talking about how we’d probably get last place. I’m glad we proved them wrong. I’m real happy with the season. I thought we should have gone further in the tournament. One of the guys on Paint Valley plays on my (summer league) team and he said we should have beaten them."

But as good as Douglas was at the plate, his pitching is where he made the biggest contribution in the Pointers success, and it’s pitching that has given Douglas not only a position on the Chillicothe Generals summer team but earned him a special tryout.

Douglas hurled 64 innings this season. He allowed just nine runs and only seven were earned as he posted an 0.77 earned run average in going 9-0. Douglas won two sectional games and a district contest before getting a no-decision as South Point lost 3-2 in the district finals. He allowed one run in the game and it was unearned.

"The biggest difference this year was in control," said Douglas. "I didn’t have that much control last year. I just worked in the offseason. I didn’t do anything special, I just threw a lot more. Ernie Carey and his son (Mark) and my dad (Alvin) helped me out."

The senior left-hander was selected all-conference and all-district. In the baseball coaches’ Southeast District Senior All-Star Game, Douglas was voted the East team’s most valuable player as he struck out six in two innings .

The all-star game performance was viewed by Cincinnati Reds scout Larry Thomas, brother of Generals coach Darrell Thomas. Larry Thomas was so impressed that he invited Douglas to a private tryout camp at Cincinnati’s Cinergy Field.

There were 40 players invited to the tryout camp of which 15 were pitchers. Douglas was the lone high school pitcher invited.

"It was a good experience. I learned a lot," said Douglas. "It was kind of intimidating. The pitchers threw about 60 pitches on the side and we threw to three batters.

"It was a little different than throwing to high school batters. One of the batters played for (the University of Cincinnati) Bearcats and one for Alabama State. The UC guy blooped a hit over first base. I threw him an inside fastball. But they said he hit .387 against lefties this year. I got the others to ground out."

Douglas was not taken in the recent major league draft, but Douglas is still planning to continue his playing career with the help of the Reds scout.

"(Larry) Thomas said he’s working on some colleges. I’m going to Kent State Friday. (Thomas) told us to work and try again next year."