FORT MYERS, Fla.- After an All-Conference sophomore season at Florida SouthWestern, righthander Ben Petschke has signed his National Letter of Intent to pitch at Samford University next season. 

Petschke was a workhorse for the Buccaneers this season, pitching in 20 games, going 4-1 with three saves to earn 2^nd Team All-Suncoast Conference honors.  He posted a 2.43 ERA in 40 2/3 innings pitched, striking out 53 and holding opposing hitters to just a .204 batting average against.  He stepped his game up another level in Suncoast Conference play, throwing in nine games and notching a 1.93 ERA in 23 innings pitched. 

Petschke and the Bucs put together their third straight 40 win campaign in 2022 and won their third straight Suncoast Conference Championship, putting together an eye opening 25-3 mark in conference play to register the best Suncoast Conference record in the FCSAA digital era. 

He will join a Samford squad coming off of a 28-29 season where the Bulldogs went 12-9 in Southern Conference play, good for a second place finish.  Samford also picked up key non-conference wins this season against Florida State, Mississippi State, and a pair over UCF. 

Petschke is the 11th Division I signee and 15th four year signee overall for the Bucs this season, joining Magnus Ellerts (Florida), Ben Peterson (North Carolina), Jose Izarra (Dallas Baptist), Hunter Fitz-Gerald (Old Dominion), Grant Besser (Rutgers), Riley Skeen (South Florida), Matthew Corpas (Florida International), Nicholas Regalado (FGCU), Paxton Tomaini (Dayton) Ronny Medina (Radford), Frank Elissalt & Ronaldo Fernandez (Nova Southeastern), Chase Chatman (St. Thomas), and Kalvin Alexander (Georgia Southwestern).