GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Joshua Gainer produced a team-high seven saves to help LIU baseball to the regular-season and postseason Northeast Conference titles as well as a trip to an NCAA Regional. And on Thursday, Gainer was rewarded with his first professional contract.

Gainer, a 6-foot-1, sidewinding right-hander from Parma, Ohio, signed with the Great Falls Voyagers of the Pioneer League.

Gainer went 2-3 with 3.10 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings spanning 26 relief appearances with the Sharks as a graduate student this past season. Opponents hit .212, the second-lowest batting average against on the team. He held lefties to .130 average.