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Doug Bernier Promoted to Colorado Rockies

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Click Photo to Enlarge Doug Bernier as a Golden Eagle.

Former Oral Roberts University infielder Doug Bernier was called up to join the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday from Triple-A affiliate Colorado Springs.

A two-year letterwinner at ORU (2001-02), Bernier becomes the third former Golden Eagle to make his Major League debut in 2008. Former teammate Steve Holm (2000-01) made the San Francisco Giants roster out of Spring Training as a back-up catcher, and infielder Michael Hollimon (2005) joined the Detroit Tigers on June 6.

"When they told me I was going up, I had to pinch myself. I couldn't really believe it was happening," Bernier told The Denver Post on Tuesday. "I wanted to get on the plane right away, before they changed their mind."

Bernier's promotion gives ORU three players in the Big Leagues for the first time since 1993 when five former standouts (Todd Burns, Craig Colbert, Keith Miller, Mike Moore, Bob Zupcic) were on Major League rosters over the course of the year. Once Bernier enters a game he will officially become ORU's 16th Major Leaguer.

Bernier was batting .225 with five home runs and 18 RBI in 54 games in his second season as a utility infielder with Colorado Springs. After a slow start to the season, Bernier was beginning to heat up. He batted just .116 in April and hit .241 in May, but was hitting at a .316 clip in 13 June games.

Signed as an undrafted free agent following his senior year in 2002, Bernier has slowly climbed the ladder with the Rockies. After his rookie season at Tri-Cities in 2002, Bernier spent the next two years at High-A Visalia in the California League before playing the next two seasons (2005, 2006) with the Double-A Tulsa Drillers.

Bernier's best Minor League campaign came in 2007 when he batted .310 with two home runs, 27 RBI and a .396 on-base percentage for Colorado Springs. He is a career .241 hitter in 605 Minor League games.

Bernier was a first-team All Mid-Continent Conference selection in 2002 when he batted .351 with 25 stolen bases. A career .332 hitter at ORU, Bernier helped lead the Golden Eagles to a pair of Mid-Continent Conference titles and NCAA Regional appearances. ORU won 96 games in his two seasons.