Former Park Southpaw Prather Signs with Frontier's Miners

Prather to join former Bellevue, Mo Bap hurlers as NAIA rookies with Southern Illinois

Aug. 12, 2008

MARION, Ill. – Former Park University left-handed pitcher Bo Prather signed Monday with the Southern Illinois Miners, an independent professional baseball franchise based in Marion, Ill. The Miners play in the Frontier League, which is comprised of teams in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

Prather, who made 10 starts and appeared in 11 games, tossed 55.1 innings on the season, striking out 41 and posting a 6-4 mark on the mound.

Prather’s longest outing came in the Region IV tournament, going 8.2 innings and taking a shut-out into the eighth before earning a 9-4 win over the Swedes to advance to the region final. Prather also fanned seven in the win over Bethany, which was two shy of his season-high nine strike outs in conference play on March 28, getting a 7-1 win at Peru State College.

In his career, Prather struck out 111 batters, including 50 in 2007, a year that saw his best season on the mound with a 7-3 record, helping his career record to 17-10 with a 4.90 career ERA. He also tossed 66.1 innings in 2007, running his career innings total to 174.1 innings pitched.

Prather was a three-year letterwinner for the Pirates, transferring prior to the 2006 season from Kansas City Kansas Community College. He is a high school graduate of Platte County R-3 High School, where he played both first base and pitched for the Pirates alongside former Park teammate Ryan Weedin.

Prather will join the Miners on the road at Rockford before returning home for a three-game series at home against the Evansville Otters. Southern Illinois ends its season in early September with three games at Gateway, which is preceded by a six-game homestand against Windy City and River City.

The Miners are currently 44-31 on the season and 1.5 games ahead of Windy City in the Frontier League’s West Division. The Minors have the league’s second-best record, falling short of Kalamazoo, who leads the East Division by eight games at 47-28.

By signing with the Miners, Prather becomes the second Park lefty to ink a professional deal. Chris Luera signed with the Golden Baseball League’s Yuma Scorpions in July, while right-handed pitcher Josh Hake was taken in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft in June.