Cardinals' scout liked what he saw in USM baseball trio

By Daimon Eklund
American Sports Writer

Scott Nichols is personally responsible for turning Augusta, New Jersey's minor-league baseball team into Southern Miss-North.

When the New Jersey Cardinals start their season Friday, three players fresh out of the University of Southern Mississippi will be on the roster. All three of them are with the St. Louis Cardinals' organization thanks to Nichols.

A scout for the Cardinals, Nichols lives in Richland and is responsible for scouting Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. This year, there was little reason for him to leave Hattiesburg.

Thanks to Nichols, the Cardinals picked up junior second baseman Jarrett Hoffpauir in the sixth round. Then, to everyone's shock but Nichols, the Cardinals selected Hoffpauir's double-play mate Matt Shepherd two rounds later.

When Shepherd called Hoffpauir to tell him the two had been picked by the same team, Hoffpauir didn't believe it.

But Nichols liked what he saw this past year.

"I think they were the best middle infield combination in college baseball," Nichols said. "Hoffpauir and Shepherd are gut-feeling players."

By which he means, when he saw them play, he knew in his gut they were players he wanted to draft. And their statistics didn't hurt - the two were neck-and-neck for the team batting lead all year, and Hoffpauir finished hitting over .400.

<a href='http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/news/stories/20040617/southernmissnews/665569.html' target='_blank'>HATTIESBURG AMERICAN: Cards' scout liked what he saw at USM</a>