Babe Ruth raised his arm and pointed his index finger to the spot where he was going to hit the ball out of Yankee Stadium. He delivered.

Fictional character Roy Hobbs hit a ball so hard with his bat, "Wonderboy," that lightning flashed beyond the outfield fence where the cover landed and left a pile of string in the outfield grass.

Presbyterian College freshman Brad Zebedis, right out of South Pointe High School to a starter his first season, is no Babe Ruth or Roy Hobbs ... yet. But he is a legend around these parts for a monumental blast his sophomore year at South Pointe.

Zebedis hammered an inside fastball in a 7-4 win over Clover and it landed an estimated 500 feet from the plate. It cleared the football stadium bleachers beyond the left-field fence to the right of the press box, landed on the track and bounced onto the grass field.

The ball was retrieved and presented to Zebedis. When he got it home, he and his dad, Frank Zebedis, wrote the score on the ball, that he was 2-for-3 with a home run, the estimated distance and the date.

"I knew it was gone,'' Zebedis said back then. "Just didn't know I had hit it that far.''

Zebedis has just completed his freshman season at Presbyterian in Clinton and is still a hitting machine.

He was nominated for the Dick Howser Award, which honors the best college baseball player in the country. Zebedis survived the first cut in the Dick Howser voting and is one of 36 semifinalists in the running for the sports top award.

"Just to be in that group is an honor,'' Zebedis said. "I don't go out and try to break records. I go out and do what I do to help our team win. My goals are to help us have 30-plus wins the next three season and to win the Big South title.''

Presbyterian finished in the top eight this season but can't play in this year's tournament, which started Tuesday at VMI. The Blue Hose are new to the Big South, and the baseball team is not eligible to play in tournaments until 2013 regardless where they finish in the standings.

Zebedis, a 19-year-old right-handed hitting machine, is 6 feet, 200 pounds. He began the regular season at PC as the starting designated hitter, caught seven games later in the season and played 17 games at first base.

He hit .425 (tied for nation's best) with 90 hits (a Big South freshman record) in 212 at-bats, with 57 RBIs (a freshman record), 21 doubles and 13 home runs (a freshman record), leading his team in each category. Zebedis fanned only 22 times.

"Brad had a phenomenal year,'' PC coach Elton Pollock said. "In the fall, I told him to go to the plate and swing away like Vladimir Guerrero, to swing at any pitch he can reach but not to strike out as many times as Vlad. Brad is a hitter and we want him to get the bat on as many balls as possible."

"One of our assistant coaches saw Brad playing summer ball," Pollock said. "He said we should look at this kid. I went to watch him play, and after two at-bats I could see that he was one of the best hitter in South Carolina. Brad hits the ball probably harder than any college player I've ever seen.''

Zebedis said he'd figured he'd nailed down a starting spot, at least at DH, during fall workouts. In practices and scrimmages, the top hitter was Zebedis, leading the team in batting average, hits, doubles and RBIs.

Zebedis puts in extra batting practice to keep his eyes sharp and his bats making contact. He often talks a coach into staying 30 minutes after practice to toss pitches at him to hit.

When a coach isn't available, he'll head to the batting cage and hit balls off a tee.

"Coach told me I was going to start at DH when the season started,'' Zebedis said. "But I felt going in to fall practice that I had a good chance to start. The coaches didn't change a thing concerning my swing. They saw I could hit and let me stay just like I was.

"At first I caught when we played doubleheaders or back-to-back games. Then they started putting me at first base when I was the DH. I've been told since our starting catcher is a senior, that I'll start next year.''

When asked to grade his freshman season, Zebedis, a 3.89 out of 4.0 student, gave himself and A. Baseball-wise, he chose a second A.

But Zebedis isn't one to rest on one record-breaking season. His goals are to reach 4.0 in school and to push his baseball grade to an A-plus.

He leaves Saturday for the Strasburg (Va.) summer league team, where he'll compete against college players from around the country in the Valley League. There is no doubting Zebedis' hitting ability, but he said there are areas he needs to improve.

One is to build up his arm strength, which all catchers need, and another is to hone his defensive game.

"He's a mature person and he plays good defense,'' Pollack said. "I told Brad we want him to be our starting catcher next year. When he first got here I told him he needed to develop more arm strength. He went right to work on it because he wants, has the drive, to get better.''

Zebedis started playing T-ball when he was 4 and said he's always worked on hitting. As he got older, his dad pushed him. Zebedis said it is was the good kind of pushing and he asked for it. He said all his coaches have helped him get where he is today.

"I'm not sure why some of the bigger school didn't recruit me, but I'm at PC and I'm happy. I had two doubles in our 4-3 win over Clemson. I went 3-for-4 and had two RBIs in our 10-7 win over Tennessee. I enjoy playing at the big schools and in front of a lot of fans.

"My second choice was Appalachian State and there was also an offer from Francis Marion. Winthrop talked to me after my sophomore year, but I back away because my dad is the police chief there. I want to get away, play somewhere else and the PC coaching staff easily won me over.''

Zebedis is a pure baseball player. He could have been a monster at linebacker on the South Pointe football team, maybe a state champ in wrestling because of his strength. But he chose to play baseball year round and is one of the fortunate students to get a full scholarship, based on his academic and athletic abilities.

Pro baseball could be in his future. Zebedis was born in Ohio and the Cleveland Indians are his team. His family moved here when he was three months old

Zebedis will be eligible for the draft after his junior season. He said it's on his mind, but buried in the back.

"I want an education to fall back on,'' he said. "I can't say right now, but if I get drafted and the situation is right, I'll likely sign. I'll still finish college. Baseball is important to me, but so is my education.''