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Georgia Tech's starting center fielder and leadoff hitter for each of his first three seasons ... A very patient hitter with good power and speed ... Very good baserunner ... Outstanding defensive center fielder who can cover a lot of territory ... Also saw action on the mound early in 2006 and again in 2007
A two-time first-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference honoree (2006, 2007) that finished his junior year ranked ninth in the school record books with 64 stolen bases and 201 runs scored in his career and tied for 20th with 45 career doubles ... One of just two players in school history to have reached base in at least 70-consecutive games, as he finished the 2007 season having reached base safely in 77-straight contests.
Missed the last 25 games of his sophomore year but returned to lead the Yellow Jacket offense in 2007.
2007 (hitting): Tech's top hitter for the second-consecutive season, earning him first-team all-ACC honors ... Led the team in average, hits, runs, doubles, triples, walks, stolen bases and on base percentage ... Finished second in the nation with 1.11 walks per game ... Hit safely in 48 contests ... Had a team-best 26 multi-hit as well as nine multi-RBI games in 2007 ... Hit safely in 21 of his last 23 games ... A second-team preseason All-America by Rivals.com, NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball and a third-team preseason All-America by Baseball America ... Named to the Brooks Wallace Award Preseason Watch List and was a USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist ... Went 2-for-3 in his first game back from injury at Georgia Southern (2/10) and ended the season-opening weekend hitting .667 with a double, home run, four RBI, four walks and a stolen base in the two-game series ... Went 2-for-3 with three runs scored, a stolen base, a double and triple against Illinois-Chicago (2/16) ... Hit .455 with two doubles, two triples, three RBI, three walks and a stolen base in the series against the Flames (2/16-2/18) ... Had four hits and six walks against Duquesne (2/23-2/25) ... Led the Jackets with three hits, two runs and two RBI vs. Western Carolina (2/27) ... Collected four hits, including a double, five walks, three runs and two RBI while posting a .643 on base percentage against Boston College (3/16-3/18) ... Hit a game-tying home run in the top of the ninth inning at Duke (3/23) and picked up a save in the game ... Hit .450 in the series against the Blue Devils with a double and home run ... Went 5-for-9 with four runs and two RBI against Georgia Southern (3/27-3/28) ... Hit the game-tying RBI single in the bottom of the ninth against Maryland (3/30) ... Collected six hits and three RBI in the series against the Terrapins (3/30-4/1) ... Went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a pair of runs scored against Georgia (4/18) ... Went 6-for-11 with a double and five RBI against NC State (4/20-4/22) ... Was 3-for-3 in the second game of the series against the Wolfpack and had a three-run double in the finale (4/22) ... Tabbed the ACC Player of the Week for April 23, 2007 ... Posted a pair of doubles, drove in two runs and scored twice against Georgia (4/24) ... Hit .417 in the series at USF (5/5-5/7) ... Went 4-for-5 with a double and home run in the series opener at No. 5 North Carolina (5/11) and hit .571 with two doubles, two home runs and sic runs scored in the series against the Tar Heels (5/11-5/13) ... Hit safely in 21 of his last 23 games.
2007 (pitching): Played in 15 games as a pitcher, making 10 scoreless appearances ... Made his season debut in the second game at Georgia Southern (2/11), facing three batters in one inning of work ... Tossed the eighth inning against Duquesne (2/24) and recorded two strikeouts before moving back to center field in the top of the ninth inning; returned to the mound in the same frame to finish off the game ... Picked up his first save by tossing the final 0.2 innings against Boston College (3/17) ... Earned save No. 2 against Duke (3/23) ... Closed out the game against Maryland (4/1) to earn save No. 3 on the season by striking out three of the four batters he faced ... Struck out four of the five batters he faced against NC State (4/22).
2006: One of the Jackets' top hitters despite missing the last 25 games with an injury suffered in the first game of the series at Boston College (4/28) ... Earned first-team all-ACC honors ... Hit a team-best .356 on the season with 11 HR, 14 doubles, 44 RBI and 20 stolen bases ... Was leading the team in hits, runs, triples, home runs, total bases and stolen bases and ranked among the Top Ten in the ACC in nine different statistical categories at the time of his injury ... Posted 21 multi-hit and 11 multi-RBI games during the season ... Hit safely in 34 of 43 games and scored a run in 31 games in 2006 ... Went 3-for-6 with a double, three runs and two RBI at Georgia Southern (2/12) ... Had a career-best three stolen bases against Georgia State (2/15) ... Was 5-for-8 with three runs and two RBI in a double header against East Tennessee State (2/21) ... Went 4-for-7 with a home run, two doubles, and a career-high seven RBI against Rutgers (3/3) ... Hit .714 (10-for-14) with 10 RBI, five runs, three doubles and two homers in the series against Rutgers (3/3-3/5); reached base safely in 10 straight plate appearances during the series ... Had a nine-game hitting streak, in which he hit .488 with five doubles, two homers and 14 RBI, snapped against Northeastern (3/7) ... Went 3-for-5 in the first game against Virginia (3/10), all three hits were infield singles ... Was 5-for-14 with two home runs, four RBI and five runs scored at NC State (3/17-3/19) ... Went 2-for-3 with four runs scored against Western Carolina (3/28) ... Had three hits in the series opener at Maryland (3/31) ... Was 4-for-9 with two home runs in two games vs. Georgia Southern (4/4-4/5) ... Went 2-for-3 with a double and three runs scored against Georgia (4/12) ... Had four hits, two of which were home runs, and five runs scored against Clemson (4/14-4/16) ... Went 3-for-6 with a home run and double, three RBI and two runs scored at Georgia State (4/19) ... Had two hits, including a grand slam, as Tech rallied from an early 6-0 deficit in a 15-8 win at No. 5 Florida State (4/21) ... Had a season-long 14-game hitting streak, in which hit .359 with 7 HR and 18 RBI, snapped against Georgia (4/26) ... Earned a walk in his final plate appearance of the season in the first inning at Boston College (4/28) before a outfield collision ended his season with a shoulder injury.
2005: Tech's leadoff hitter and the only player to start all 64 games ... Hit safely in 48 of 64 games and reached base safely in all but four games ... Scored at least one run in 43 games ... Went 6-for-15 with five runs in the ACC Tournament ... Named to the All-Tournament team at the NCAA Atlanta Regional, batting 3-for-16 (.188) and walking five times (.409 on base pct.) and scoring a tournament-high five runs ... Hit safely in each of the first eight games of his collegiate career ... Went 7-for-13 with a home run, six RBI and seven runs scored in three games vs. Iona (2/18-2/20) ... Went 6-for-12 with a home run, five RBI and six runs scored in a sweep at Duke (3/4-3/6) ... Had five hits and four runs scored in Tech's sweep of Wake Forest (3/11-3/13) ... Delivered the game-tying single in the bottom of the ninth inning in Tech's 11-10 win over NC State (3/20) ... Had a two-out, two-run single to cap a three-run ninth inning rally and lift Tech to a 9-8 win over Florida State (4/16) ... Went 4-for-12 in the series vs. the Seminoles ... Was 5-for-11 with four walks, two stolen bases and six runs vs. Virginia Tech (5/13-5/15).
High School: A four-year letterwinner for coach Dave Audia at Sequoyah High School as a center fielder and pitcher ... Ranked as the No. 11 prospect in Georgia and No. 70 in the nation ... Named the Cherokee County Player of the Year by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2002 and 2004 ... Owns Sequoyah career records in hits (107), batting average (.464), doubles (26), home runs (17) total bases (192), RBI (90), slugging percentage (.759), innings pitched (168), strikeouts (280), wins (16) and ERA (1.17) ... Played with the East Cobb Yankees during the summer months ... Named MVP of the Connie Mack World Series while leading his team to the championship ... Hit .470 with 10 home runs and 48 RBI in 158 at bats with the East Cobb Yankees ... Also lettered four years as a running back and corner back for football coach Sid Maxwell.
Personal: Full name is Daniel Alexander Payne, Jr. ... Born September 8, 1985 ... Son of Dan and Kathy Payne ... Dean's List student majoring in Business Management ... 2006-07 Recipient of the James R. and Lamae S. Williams Baseball Endowment.
Career Statistics
Career Statistics
Year G-GS AB R H Avg. 2B 3B HR RBI TB SLG% BB SO SB-A Fld%
2005 64-64 261 77 74 .284 11 2 3 40 98 .375 60 63 24-30 .950
2006 43-43 180 56 64 .356 14 1 11 44 113 .628 31 48 20-24 1.000
2007 56-56 219 68 81 .370 20 3 4 36 119 .543 62 41 20-26 .980
Totals 163-163 660 201 219 .332 45 6 18 120 330 .500 153 152 64-80 .974
Year G-GS W-L SV CG SH ERA IP H R ER BB SO Avg.
2006 7-0 0-0 1 0 0 3.86 7.0 4 3 3 5 8 .174
2007 15-0 0-2 3 0 0 5.87 15.1 13 10 10 9 19 .224
Totals 22-0 0-2 4 0 0 5.24 22.1 17 13 13 14 27 .210
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