AUM's Kelley sets school season hit mark

Junior Kelley

AUM's Junior Kelley Montgomery, Ala. - Maintaining a lengthy hitting streak is one of the more difficult tasks to accomplish in baseball. It requires intense focus and concentration from an athlete during every game, if not every at-bat. Auburn Univ e r s i t y Montgomery senior second baseman Junior Kelley accomplished just such an amazing stretch of hits over 33 games this season setting a new school record in the process.

Prior to Kelley's accomplishment, AUM's previous hits streak was held by Bryan McGill in 1990 with 32 games during the Senators' first run to the NAIA World Series where they finished as National Runner-Up. Kelley's run of hits this season began in the second game of a doubleheader at Spring Hill (Ala.) College on Feb. 16 with a two-hit performance and was not stopped until the nightcap of a home twin bill with Shorter (Ga.) College this past Saturday.

The second sacker's streak was not just a run of Texas Leaguers and "seeing-eye" singles either. Kelley hit .480 during his stretch with 61 total hits, 12 doubles, eight home runs and 40 RBI. He scored 40 runs and took six of seven stolen base attempts while walking just five times - three of those being intentional passes. Most impressively, he struck out only twice in 127 at-bats.

Junior Kelley pivots to throw to first while trying to turn a double play for the AUM baseball team. Photo courtesy Auburn University-Montgomery

Many batters would find the pressure of such a streak to be too much to handle, but not Kelley. On the night he tied the record, the Whatley, Ala., native mashed the second pitch he saw over the left-center field fence at the AUM Baseball Complex and would add two more homers, a double and seven RBI to his game totals. He broke the record the next day with a solid single to left on his third pitch.

Kelley came to AUM from Alabama Southern Community College where he holds the record for doubles in a season. In 2006, he was named First Team All-American for the Senators and batted .419 with 109 hits and eight home runs while setting school single season records with 22 doubles and 69 games played.

Currently he is on pace to set school records for career and single season batting averages, standing at .439 for his AUM career and .472 so far in 2007. Against NCAA Division 2 opponent Columbus (Ga. ) State earlier this year he established a new school single game record with three doubles. To this point in the year, Kelley's batting average is the ninth highest in the NAIA and he has the highest number of total hits in the country.

AUM Head Coach Q.V. Lowe was justifiably proud of his player following his record performance, but was sorry to see the streak end, "I thought I jinxed him (with the between-games ceremony honoring the new hitting streak record), but he'll be fine with it (seeing the streak end). He's the kind of guy who'd rather go to the National Tournament than have a record." The Senators stand atop the Southern States Athletic Conference by four games with a 19-2 conference record and 37-8 overall.

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