It didn’t take long for Chase Dawson to join the ranks of Valpo baseball alums who have gone on to play professional baseball, as the Gary SouthShore RailCats of the American Association announced Tuesday that they have signed Dawson to his first professional contract.

A native of Chesterton, Dawson joins the RailCats following a stellar senior season in the Brown and Gold. He was a Second Team All-Missouri Valley Conference honoree in 2019, leading the team with a .324 batting average and 39 runs scored while also pacing the squad in triples and stolen bases. Dawson finished his senior year tied for the team high with 55 hits, as well as second on the team in on-base percentage (.390), slugging percentage (.506) and RBIs (28).

Dawson’s strong senior campaign brought to an end a distinguished four-year career in the Valpo uniform. Playing in 199 games over his four seasons, Dawson ranks second in program history with 13 career triples, third all-time at Valpo with 459 assists and sixth with 145 career runs scored. He also narrowly missed cracking Valpo’s all-time top-10 in career hits, finishing with 199 career base knocks. In addition to his Second Team All-MVC selection in 2019, Dawson was a Horizon League All-Freshman Team and All-Tournament Team choice in 2016.

The Gary SouthShore RailCats play in the North Division of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. Dawson’s signing continues the tradition of alums from The Region’s Division I University going on to play for the lone professional baseball team in The Region, as Dawson will become the seventh different Valpo product to don the RailCats uniform.