Eric Beattie | University of Tampa | Baseball | 2002-2004
Eric Beattie enters the Sunshine State Conference Hall of Fame after being inducted to the University of Tampa Athletics Hall of Fame and the Cape Cod League Hall of Fame as a Class of 2014 inductee in both.
He currently ranks third in school history with four career shutouts as he won 30 games during his three-year career at Tampa, which has him ranked tied for fifth. Beattie threw 288.0 innings at Tampa, which ranks him seventh in program history as he currently ranks eighth in career strikeouts with 278. He set a single-season school record with 15 wins in 2004, and also sits atop the Spartan record books with three shutouts pitched in 2003.
Beattie was selected in the second round of the 2004 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers. He remains one of three UT players selected in the first two rounds, joining Tino Martinez and Sergio Perez. Among his list of accomplishments at Tampa was being a 2003 first-team All-American. In that season, he was named the NCAA South Regional Most Outstanding Player. He was also a two-time All-SSC selection while being both the 2003 SSC Pitcher of the Year and SSC Male Athlete of the Year.
Following his professional baseball career, Beattie returned to UT and complete his degree. He is currently a teacher and head baseball coach at Strawberry Crest High School in Tampa.