Arby Fields Gives Up Gridiron For Diamond…

Former Northwestern University baseball and football player Arby Fields will play baseball for LSU next year. He has confirmed his intentions to the Baton Rouge Advocate.

LSU bound Arby Fields (right) was a football and baseball player at Northwestern with former teammate Quentin Williams

Fields played both football and baseball at Northwestern as a true freshman in 2009, when he was included on the CB360 Two-Sport Reports. He played on the Wildcat football team in the fall of 2010, but then transferred to Cyprus (Junior) College in his native California. Fields batted .344 with four triples, 11 doubles and 25 RBIs this spring.

The 5’9, 205 lb. sophomore ran for 178 yards and one touchdown on 62 carries for Northwestern’s Ticket City Bowl team in 2010. Fields was a Big Ten All-Freshman Team performer in 2009, when he batted .292 with 15 doubles, five home runs and 27 RBIs.

Of his decision to focus solely on baseball, Fields told the Advocate “My heart is in baseball full on now. It was a lot of fun to have the experience of playing both sports in the Big Ten and it’s something I’ll never forget. But when I made the decision to play strictly baseball, it was because that’s what I want to make a career out of and I wanted to find a great program where I had the best chance to do that.

“Football was great but it always hindered my ability to play baseball. This will be the first summer and fall of my life where I can focus strictly on being a baseball player. With the opportunity I have, that’s going to do nothing but help me. I’m not sharing time anymore.”

Arkansas, Auburn, Alabama, UCLA, and Oregon State are among the other schools that Fields turned down to go to LSU.

Per NCAA transfer rules, Fields will be eligible to play for LSU in 2011 since he transferred to a junior college this year. He will have two years of Division One baseball eligibility remaining.