Pitt-Johnstown junior pitcher/designated hitter Isaiah Kearns became the second Mountain Cat in as many days to sign a contract with a Major League Baseball team when he inked a free-agent deal with the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday.
 
On Monday, junior right-handed pitcher Braxton Roxby signed a free-agent contract with the Cincinnati Reds.
 
"The Pitt-Johnstown coaching staff is extremely happy for Isaiah," said Head Coach Todd Williams.  "He is a great young man who has worked hard to reach his goal of signing professionally in baseball.  Isaiah is an extremely talented athlete who can play multiple positions on the field and is one of the best all- around players that we have had in our program. Unfortunately for us, we were only able to see that for 17 games before this season was canceled due to the pandemic.  We would have loved to see how the last 30 games would have turned out. We wish Isaiah the very best in his professional endeavors and are looking forward to watching him in the future."
 
Kearns, one of the top pitching prospects coming out of Mifflin County High School, began his college career at West Virginia University, before transferring to Pitt-Johnstown for the 2020 season.  In four appearances on the mound for the Mountain Cats, the Lewistown, Pa. native was 3-1 with 27 strikeouts and a 1.61 ERA.  In 17 games offensively, Kearns paced Pitt-Johnstown in batting average (.400), hits (22), runs (15), doubles (8), homeruns (4), RBI (17), and slugging percentage.  Kearns was named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West Athlete of the Week on February 17 and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Atlantic Region Hitter of the Week on February 18.
 
Kearns and Roxby are the first Mountain Cats to sign professional contracts since All-American pitcher Ben Watkins was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 40^th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft, and fellow right-hander Kaleb Fleck signed a minor league free-agent contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks in September 2011.