Baseball 3/27/2013 11:51:00 AM William Paterson Sports Information

Former Pioneer Derner Signs with Normal CornBelters Baseball Team

Second Pioneer to Sign with Independent Team this Spring

Adam Derner became the 36th Pioneer to sign a professional contract when he joined the Normal CornBelters.

NORMAL, ILL. – Former William Paterson first baseman/designated hitter Adam Derner (River Edge, N.J./River Dell Regional) has signed a contract with independent team the Normal (Ill.) CornBelters.

Derner was a 2012 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings and D3baseball.com first-team all-American, and also a member of the 2012 All-New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association (NJCBA), D3baseball.com All-Region and ABCA Mid-Atlantic First Teams. Named to the 2012 All-New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Second Team, he was selected to the 2011 NJCBA Division II/III All-State Second Team. Derner was the 2012 conference leader in slugging percentage (.804, seventh nationally), RBI (62, first nationally), home runs (13, third in Division III), total bases (115, eighth nationally), RBI/game (1.48, second nationally) and homers/game (0.31, ninth in Division III), ranking second in walks (30, 27th in Division III) and on-base percentage (.527, 14th in Division III). A two-time member of the D3baseball.com National Team of the Week (April 2, April 9) and the March 26 NJCBA and NJAC Player of the Week, Derner added a .413 batting average (third in league), 15 doubles (tied-fifth in NJAC), 40 runs scored (tied-seventh in conference), four sacrifice flies (tied-sixth in league) and 59 hits (tied-ninth in NJAC) last spring. He also ranked in the conference stats in walks/game (0.71, fourth), doubles/game (0.36, fourth), runs/game (0.95, sixth) and hits/game (1.40, tied-eighth) while starting in all but one game. Derner joined the Pioneers in 2011 after transferring from the University of Rhode Island.

Derner is the 36th William Paterson player to sign a professional contract with a Major League Baseball or independent team. Earlier this spring, former WP first baseman Marc Palestina (Paramus, N.J./Paramus) signed a contract with the Newark Bears.

For all of the latest information on the Pioneers, visit http://www.wpupioneers.com, http://www.facebook.com/wpupioneers, http://www.youtube.com/thewpupioneers and http://twitter.com/wpupioneers.

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