STEPHENVILLE - Tarleton baseball head coach Bryan Conger and the Texan program announced the signing of junior college transfer Joseph Aquino for the upcoming 2012 season.

Aquino is a 5'11" right-handed pitcher out of Mililani, Hawaii, who played the past two seasons at Cisco Junior College.  At Cisco, the 185-pound righty earned an 11-6 record with a 3.18 ERA, 100 strikeouts and was named to the Texas Junior College All-Star team in 2011.  This was all during 122 innings of work on the mound.

As a three-time Oahu Interscholastic Association first-team selection, Aquino was named to the Hawaii State All-Star team.  He was picked for the 2008 Hawaii Showcase Tournament Top Prospect List and the 2009 Rawlings/Perfect Game Preseason West Region All-High School Senior second team.  In the Perfect Game USA Showcase, Aquino was highly touted as the No. 3 prospect out of Hawaii and received a Perfect Game rating of 9 on the 10 point scale.

Coach Conger talked about the addition of Aquino to the Texans' rotation.

"We are very excited to add Joseph to our incoming recruiting class," said Conger.  "He was one of the most highly sought after pitchers in the Texas JC league this season and will certainly make an immediate impact on our pitching staff.  Joseph features three above average pitches and produced tremendous numbers in one of the toughest JC regions in the country.  With the addition of Joseph, we feel we have taken a major step forward in solidifying and improving our rotation next season."

Aquino is the 15th signing for the Tarleton program for next season.

For more information regarding the 2012 Texan baseball season, check out TarletonSports.com.