(All-Metro) (World Wood Bat Tournament in Jupiter, FL 2002) (Dulin's Dodgers) {BA-PPlus} {National BA-PPlus #278/400} (2003 Junior Sun Belt Team) (2003 All-Metro) (2003 TBCA Showcase Team) (2003 WWBA Jupiter, FL) 11/03 - Middle Tennessee head baseball coach Steve Peterson announced the signing of Germantown Houston High School standout Rawley Bishop to a national letter of intent this week, the fourth signee for the Blue Raiders during the Fall Period. The 6-3, 185-pound Bishop helped Houston High School to a 32-8 record last season, batting .405 with 17 doubles and 29 RBIs, as well as 41 runs and 21 walks. Bishop also stole 19 bases in helping the Mustangs reach the state tournament in Memphis. Bishop was a member of Team Tennessee in 2003, an all-star squad of juniors that won the 7th Annual Sun Belt Classic in Oklahoma in June. The corner infielder batted .407 in nine contests for Team Tennessee, belting four home runs with eight RBIs and 10 runs scored in earning All-Tournament honors. As a sophomore at HHS, Bishop batted .417 in 33 contests with eight doubles and 25 runs scored. Bishop heads into his senior season with a .387 career average, 110 hits, 28 doubles and 59 RBIs, as well as 54 stole bases and 94 runs scored. Bishop has earned Commercial Appeal All-Metro honors the past two seasons and has participated in the Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association Showcase the past two years at Reese Smith Field in Murfreesboro. "Rawley Bishop has great upside. He is just a good baseball player," Peterson said. "He can play anywhere on the diamond. He's a good athlete who runs well and has hit for average. In time we think he will fit somewhere from the top to the middle of the order. With the four players we've signed in the early period, we have really filled some places in the lineup for the future. We have a couple of lefthanded hitter and a couple of switch hitters. Coach [Jim] McGuire and the rest of the staff did a good job locating players who fit into program and guys who are interested and want to be at Middle Tennessee. All of them fit into what we need in the future. It was just a good early signing period." The Blue Raiders open the season February 20-22 with a three-game series against IP-Fort Wayne at Reese Smith Field.