The Merchants/Seals signed two players from BIG 10 school Purdue recently – MIF Duncan McKinnon and UTL player Trevor Beard.

Both players are true freshman coming into this season & both are looking to significantly contribute in the Boilermaker lineup this season.

McKinnon, a native of Manhattan Beach, CA, is a switch hitting middle infielder who played his high school ball at southern california powerhouse Redondo Union high school. As a junior, he batted .414 & as a senior, he batted .379, scored 32 runs, had 44 hits, 22 RBI's and 7 doubles, 3 triples and 3 home runs on a team that was 29-7 and ranked #15 in the state of California. His Redondo Union team won the CIF Division 3 championship by a score of 10-0. He was named by Perfect Game as a Regional Honorable Mention player. He will see most of his time this summer at SS or 2B.

Beard, aslo a true freshman, was a utility player at San Clemente high school where he played 3B/OF and pitched a little for the Tritons, who finished the sesaon as the #4 ranked team in the western United States and the #19 ranked team in the nation according to MaxPreps. Beard was also listed by Perfect Game as a Regional Honorable Mention player.

Coach Mills recently heard from a reliable source at Purdue that both of these guys were performing well during fall ball and they were both competing for playing time as freshman. McKinnon was competing for the starting 2nd base job & Beard was hitting well and was going to see some time at 3rd.

Glad to have both these guys on the squad in 2016.