Southern Arkansas University Athletics

Bob Block was a First Team NAIA All-America, First Team NAIA Area V, First Team All-NAIA District 17, and First Team All-AIC selection as an outfielder at Southern Arkansas in 1987.  Unquestionably the greatest baseball team in Mulerider history, the 1987 team was the runaway conference champion with a 25-1 league record, breezed to the NAIA District 17 title, and finished 2-2 in the region tournament, before advancing to the NAIA College World Series in Lewiston, Idaho, where they finished third nationally, ending with the best record in school history at 46-7.
           
In the NAIA District 17 tournament game against Arkansas Tech, Block blasted a school record three home runs over the centerfield fence, a distance of 395 feet, with all three shots going more than 400 feet.  In his fourth plate appearance of the day, he hammered another shot that hit the top of the centerfield fence, missing a fourth homer by inches, for a double.
           
Block drove in a school record nine runs in the Arkansas Tech game.  He also set a total base school record for a season in 1987 with 150 and set a school record for hits in a season with 86.  He hit .453 with a slugging percentage of .789, with 13 home runs, and 17 doubles.
           
In his senior season in 1988, Block hit .386 with eight home runs and a .620 slugging percentage, helping lead the team to a 43-13 record.  He was Honorable Mention NAIA All-America, and repeated First Team NAIA All-District 17, and First Team All-AIC honors.  A 6-3, 190-pound right fielder who had a cannon for an arm, Block was drafted after his senior season by the Baltimore Orioles in the 39th round.
           
Block finished his two-year stay at SAU with a .420 career batting average, 21 home runs, 32 doubles, 126 RBI, and a .610 slugging percentage.  He still holds the SAU record for total bases in a game (14), and shares school records of total bases in a season (150) and home runs in a game (3).
           
A native of Ground Mound, Iowa, Block now resides in Frisco, Texas, where he is employed with eVerge Group, a computer company in the Dallas area.  He and his wife, Melony, have two daughters, Chelsea Rohde, and Lynsea Block.