GARY, IN. 6-28-2010 – The Gary SouthShore RailCats have signed Chicagoland native and former Valparaiso University star Zach Rodeghero to a contract for the 2010 season, and placed right-handed pitcher Brandon Magee on the disabled list with a strained neck, the team announced today.

Rodeghero, 25, is in the starting lineup and will make his RailCats debut tonight when the Joliet JackHammers visit U. S. Steel Yard.  Rodeghero, who was born in Joliet and lives in nearby New Lenox, Ill., was one of the RailCats final cuts in Spring Training this summer after attending the team’s Open Tryout in early May.  A powerful left-handed hitter, Rodeghero will be playing in the United States for the first time since a 25-game stint with the Frontier League’s Chillicothe Paints in 2008.    Rodeghero spent last season playing in Belgium.

A career .369 hitter in four years with the Crusaders, Rodeghero earned First Team All-Horizon League honors as a senior in 2008 and earned a spot on the All-Mideast Region Second Team. Rodeghero hit a league-leading .418 his senior year, drove in a team-leading 54 runs and also set the Crusaders’ single-season hits record (92).  In 118 games at Valpo, Rodeghero collected 91 RBI and hit seven homers.

Rodeghero will become the first Valparaiso University product to play for the RailCats.  The ‘Cats first ever signee was a Crusader, pitcher Justin Craker, but Craker was sold to the San Diego Padres before the start of the 2002 season and never played in Gary.

Magee left his start Wednesday night in Winnipeg with tightness in his neck in the third inning and was placed on the seven-day disabled list retroactive to Thursday.  The right-hander, who was the Northern League Pitcher of the Week June 9, is 3-2 with a 3.25 ERA through seven starts this season and would be eligible to come off the disabled list as early as Friday.

The RailCats (20-17) and Joliet JackHammers (17-18) will fire out the first pitch of a three-game series tonight at 7 p.m.  Rookie southpaw Zeb Engle (3-0, 2.21 ERA) will start for the RailCats with Bear Bay (2-2, 3.38 ERA) replying for the ‘Hammers.  Teh game will be broadcast live on 89.1 FM, The Lakeshore, and online at www.railcatsbaseball.com.