A pair of Barton Community College baseball players have signed on the dotted line to play for NCAA Division-I schools next year.
Shortstop Federico Castagnini and pitcher Jason Harris signed on the second day of the early signing period on Thursday, a 10-day stretch where D-I athletes can sign or wait until the spring.
Castagnini signed with Creighton University in Omaha, and Harris signed with the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.
“When I came in, I just needed to work on a lot of things … discipline, hard work and knowing the game,” said Castagnini, who was also recruited by Richmond, Costal Carolina and Liberty, of his first year at Barton.
“It was a great visit (at Creighton),” Castagnini said. “I loved the school and loved the place. It’s a great city in Omaha. The baseball program is just awesome and the facilities are great. I loved their stadium. I get to play (home games) at the TP Ameritrade Park”
It’s the home of the College World Series, having recently replacing historic Rosenblatt Stadium.
 “Frederico is originally from Verona, Italy, and was an exchange student at a high school in Colorado,” Barton head baseball coach Mike Warren said.“It’s been a culture thing for him, going from Italy to the United States and then from Colorado and Kansas.
“In my opinon, he’s done a good job adjusting to all level and won’t have any problem adjusting to Creighton University.”
Castagnini hit .294 for Barton last spring, totaling 59 hits in 56 games played. He had 10 doubles, drove in 41 runs and scored 53 runs.
The Cougars finished the 2011 spring season with a 37-21 overall record, including a 19-12 record in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division. They had their season come to an end with a pair of losses during the National Junior College Athletics Association Super Regional.
Harris has yet to see the mound in a regular-season game for the Cougars.
A 6-foot-4, 190-pound pitcher, Harris transferred to Barton from Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas.
As a freshman, Harris, an Austin, Texas, native, appeared in 11 games in the spring of 2011, starting seven and posting an 0-3 record with a 7.39 earned run average.
Before settling on UNC-Charlotte, Harris also entertained offers from Richmond, South Alabama and the UT-Arlington.
“A lot of people would like to have a tall, lanky 6-foot-4 left-handed pitcher,” Warren said of Harris. “I think he’s more than a project.
“Mitch Slauter, who played catcher for me and is now on scholarship at Mississippi State, played on the same team as him over the summer and he called me and told me about him.”
 Warren said he wouldn’t rule out the possibilty of both Castagnini or Harris getting some looks for the upcoming Major League Draft
“We feel pretty fortunate that we have these two guys that have impressed enough people to be recruited pretty heavily,” he said.