Picayune’s Peyton Lee excited to sign with USM

He originally planned to return to Pearl River Community College.

After completing his freshman season at PRCC, former Picayune standout Peyton Lee hadn’t attracted much interest from four-year schools and figured another season with the Wildcats would do him good.

His plans changed about two weeks after the season, however, when Southern Miss popped up and offered him. It was an offer, he said, that he couldn’t turn down.

“I just think the opportunity arose at a good time. It was something special,” said Lee, who chose USM over an offer from Southeastern Louisiana. “Just a school like that to look at me after one year (at PRCC) really surprised me and caught my attention.”

Lee made it official Monday, signing with the Golden Eagles. He was one of four players announced by the school Monday.

Lee should add versatility to USM’s roster. At PRCC and PMHS, Lee has played in the outfield when he’s not pitching. He believes that won’t change in Hattiesburg.

“From what they were saying, I’ll have every opportunity to play both ways,” Lee said.

Statistically speaking

The 6-foot, 185-pound Lee hit .395 in 37 games during his first season at Pearl River Community College, with 25 runs scored and 19 RBIs. He hit seven doubles and three triples, while stealing six bases.

Lee’s older brother, Braxton Lee, starred at Ole Miss before being drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2014. He just finished a five-game road trip to Biloxi as part of the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits. Where Braxton is more of a slap hitter, Peyton considers himself more of a well-rounded bat.

He also posted a 2-3 record for the Wildcats with a 7.62 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 28 1/3 innings.

His pitching statistics weren’t quite as impressive at PRCC as the year before at Picayune as he posted a 2-3 record with a 7.62 ERA. Lee did strike out 31 in 28 1/3 innings, but attributed the overall dip in his production on the mound to adjusting to junior college. He acknowledged another learning curve is probably awaiting him once he joins USM.

“I learned a lot (at PRCC). The competition at high school and college really just jumped up. That surprised me,” he said. “In high school, most of the time I could just throw it by people.

“Once I got up to this level it changed a lot. If you didn’t throw it where you needed to, it could be turned around on you and hit hard.”

Rest of the class

USM also announced on Monday the additions of catcher Cole Donaldson, right-handed pitcher Calder Mikell and RHP/outfielder Matt Wallner. The rest of USM’s 15-player class includes infielders Jaylon Keys, Casey Maack, LeeMarcus Boyd, right-handers Jordan Hayes, Trent Driver, Colt Smith, Cody Carroll and Alex Nelms, left-hander Sean Tweedy, and outfielders Mason Irby and Gabe Montenegro.

This story was originally published June 28, 2016 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Picayune’s Peyton Lee excited to sign with USM."