Higbee senior Robert Smith signed a letter of intent on December 18 to play baseball at Hannibal LaGrange University next season.

As a junior last spring, Smith threw out a dozen runners attempting to steal in 71 innings behind the plate, catching for arguably the best pitcher in the area, Derek Rockett.

Behind the plate, Smith threw out 12 of 36 would be base stealers for a 33.33 caught stealing percentage. He posted a near-perfect fielding percentage of .993, committing only one error in 152 total chances.

A four-year starter, Smith also saw innings from the other side of the plate last season, pitching in 13 games for the Tigers. He posted a 3.37 ERA in 35.1 innings on the mound with 49 strikeouts, and two saves.

“Hannibal-LaGrange is getting a player that is a solid catcher behind the plate and has really matured as a pitcher in the last couple of years,” said Higbee baseball coach Ryan Vogelgesang. “Robert has great command of his fastball and features a sharp breaking ball that he can throw for a strike at will. This coming spring, Robert is expected to be at the top of our pitching rotation after pitching big innings for last year’s district championship winning team.”

Smith helped lead Higbee to a 12-7 overall record last fall. The Tigers captured the Class 1 District 12 title, defeating Glasgow 3-0, before taking down Cairo 4-3 in the championship. In the district semifinal game, Smith threw 5.1 shutout innings starting against Glasgow.

 Higbee eventually fell to Kingsville 3-0 at home in the program’s first ever trip to the Class 1 state tournament.

At the plate last fall, Smith drove in four runs on five hits, two of which went for doubles, and walked 13 times. 

Smith is the son of Billy and Jennifer Smith of Higbee, and grandson of Wilma Smith and the Late Darrell Smith of Higbee, and Lynn and Sherri Ash of Columbia.

While at Hannibal LaGrange, he plans to major in Conservation Biology.

“It’s been exciting to watch Robert mature not only as an athlete, but as a person over the past four years,” said  Vogelgesang. “Robert really embraced his new role as a leader on our team this fall as a senior and we look forward to watching him continue his career at Hannibal-LaGrange.”

Hannibal finished 12-17 overall last season under second-year head coach David Babcock, a sharp improvement over the Trojans’ record of 5-32 the year before. The team boasts seven catchers on the roster this season, one of whom is a senior, followed by two juniors, and four freshmen.