Baseball's Hampton Tignor Signs Professional Contract
Friday, July 2, 2010 | Baseball
Senior catcher Hampton Tignor (Sarasota, Fla.) became the first member of the 2010 Gator baseball team to sign a professional baseball contract when he inked a deal with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He has been assigned to the Orem (Utah) Owlz of the Pioneer League. Chosen by the Angels in the 36th round with the 1,104th selection of the Major League Baseball Draft, Tignor was a four-year letterwinner for the Gators and a three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll.
In his final campaign, he appeared in 13 games, with two starts at catcher, and was 2-for-16 (.125) with three runs and three RBI. He caught the ninth inning against UCLA at the NCAA College World Series, as Florida made its first appearance in Omaha since the 2005 season. Tignor lofted his first sacrifice fly of the campaign against Florida Atlantic during the Gainesville Regional final to put an exclamation point on the 15-0 shutout. He started behind the plate in the finale at South Carolina and poked a two-run double as part of a six-run seventh inning. Tignor delivered a single at USF, reached on an error in game two at Tennessee and scored on sophomore Daniel Pigott's (Ormond Beach , Fla.) pinch-hit double versus the Vols. On the opening weekend of the regular season, he drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the ninth with the Gators down by a 6-3 margin to USF and scored on senior Matt den Dekker's (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) two-run single.
Tignor represented Florida on the 2010 SEC Baseball Community Service Team that highlighted an athlete from each school who gives back to his community in superior service efforts. He visited local schools and libraries in Gainesville, as well as on Cape Cod during the summer when he was playing in the Cape Cod League, to speak to elementary schools about the importance of education and reading.
During his time in Gainesville, Tignor made numerous visits to the pediatric care unit of Shands Hospital and participated in the "Gator Tracks" Christmas shoe drive in which he collected and brought shoes, wrapped boxes and distributed to the items to schools. He took part in a student-athlete panel discussion with University of Florida faculty members and students, as well as Climb for Cancer philanthropy (team leader in 2008 and 2009). Tignor helped with the Friends of Jaclyn adoption with the rest of his teammates and volunteered at the Run for Darius 5K race.
In addition, he was the Treasurer of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, the Vice-President of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and was a state finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship as UF's representative. Tignor scored in the 98th percentile on the LSAT and was a Boyd McWhorter Scholarship Nominee. A consistent performer on Florida's Dean's List and an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Nominee, he collaborated with a handful of other Gator student-athletes and staff to produce the inaugural Florida Letterman's Awards Show, an ESPY-like show.
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