5/11/2020 baseball Edit

Talented Diamond Hogs freshman enters transfer portal

Jesse Pierce is the third Arkansas baseball player to enter the transfer portal since the end of the season. (Arkansas Athletics)

Andrew Hutchinson • HawgBeat

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A third Arkansas baseball player has entered the NCAA transfer portal, HawgBeat has learned.

Las Vegas product Jesse Pierce, who was redshirting as a freshman during the coronavirus-shortened 2020 season, is the latest transfer, joining pitchers Collin Taylor and Travis Hester.

Although he never appeared in a game for the Razorbacks, Pierce was a touted member of their 2019 class that was ranked fifth nationally by Perfect Game.

Ranked the top shortstop in Nevada and the No. 336 overall prospect in the country for 2019, Pierce hit .394 in three seasons at Arbor View High in Las Vegas. His best year was as a junior, when he hit .402 with six home runs and 48 RBIs in 30 games.

He was listed as an infielder and outfielder on Arkansas’ roster. During the preseason, head coach Dave Van Horn even mentioned Pierce as a possibility at first base. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound freshman also got work as a corner outfielder and third baseman.

A talented player with a lot of potential, Pierce is a casualty of the roster crunch created by the MLB Draft being shortened to five rounds and the NCAA granting eligibility across the board - which created a massive ripple effect that HawgBeat wrote about in detail here.