Case in point, their most recent signee announced Wednesday afternoon.
The Express will welcome pitcher Jonathan Ellison from Cypress, Texas into the fold this summer, and the senior hurler brings an impressive look into his first season of Western Canadian Baseball League action.
First, there’s where he played -- Ellison is a member of the McNeese State University Cowboys, an NCAA Division I program based out of Lake Charles, Louisiana. The Miller Express didn’t have a Division I player in their line-up last season, meaning Ellison will bring a major upgrade to the team’s pitching staff just on that pedigree alone.
Then there are his statistics.
Ellison served as a reliever to start the 2020 Southland Conference season and made four appearances, tossing 10 ⅓ innings and ending up with a 2.61 earned run average with 11 strikeouts and 10 walks before the campaign was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 6-foot-0, 188-pound lefthander was just as effective in his junior year, appearing in 14 games and making eight starts, putting together a 2.75 ERA to go along with 42 strikeouts and only 15 walks over 45 ⅓ innings. That included a contest against Holy Cross where Ellison tossed seven shutout innings and was only nine outs away from a perfect game before giving up a base hit.
While the 2021 schedule for McNeese State hasn’t been released as of yet, if they get to play at all at home this season it will be a minor miracle -- Lake Charles was utterly devastated by Hurricane Laura on Aug. 27, including the McNeese campus and athletic facilities, to the tune of up to $200 million in damages.
You can read about that through Sports Illustrated by clicking here.
The Miller Express are slated to open the 2021 WCBL season on May 28 at Ross Wells Park when they host the Medicine Hat Mavericks.
