SPANISH FORT—Toros ace left hander Patrick McGavin signed to play baseball for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide at Spanish Fort High Nov. 12.

"I've always been an Alabama fan and they were the first ones to offer me and I think they are going to have a great future," McGavin said. "Coach (Mitch) Gaspard recruited me. I think he'll do great things up there." A former assistant coach, Gaspard will start his first year as head coach this spring.

Heading into his firth year as a starter for the Toros, McGavin (6-3, 210) is the first SFHS baseball player to sign with a South Eastern Conference school. Although primarily sought by LSU, Auburn, Stanford and South Carolina as well as the Tide for his pitching arm, McGavin hopes to get a chance to keep swinging the bat after high school. "Coach Gaspard said that if I worked hard I could probably play first base and get to bat. I hope so, I love to hit the ball."

Besides holding the SF school records in wins (24) and starts (32) on the mound, at the plate McGavin holds the records in hits (127), doubles (38) and RBIs (88).

"Obviously, it's only our third or fourth year to play at this level (5A) so to have a guy sign with the SEC is really more a of a tribute to him than our program," said SFHS head coach Tommy Walker.

"This is a great thing. He has always been talented, started as an eighth grader. Most of the great ones are stubburn and strong willed and Pat is a tough strong-willed kid so sometimes as a coach you butt heads a little bit. But he's known I've always had his best interest at heart. How to play well and how to play right and then how to get to the next level is what we've worked on. Pat's got great ability and he has a great work ethic and he's going to will himself to succeed."

McGavin plans to study crimanal justice and follow in his parents, Steve and Elaine's FBI footsteps. My mom and my dad were FBI agents. That's how they met."

SF opens up the season in Febraury in the annual Hank Aaron Classic tournament.