Texas Rio Grande Valley Athletics

A fifth-year college athlete, Shelby Thomas was given an injury waiver to come back after an elbow surgery kept him out of his senior year. He missed all of 1996. In 1995 he led UTPA in pitching wins and gained a big victory  at Jacksonville.     Now an older (22), wiser and more experienced man, Thomas can help the Broncs win in 1997. He has proved himself a real competitor. He came out of Spring HS as baseball MVP and pitched Spring into the playoffs, then pitched well for Lon Morris JC. In 1995 he proved he can win with scant support from his teammates' bats or gloves by being a bear-down-in-the clutch winner.     Knowing Thomas' long, painful comeback from the bad elbow, his teammates will give him more support in 1997. He is 6-2 and 185, majoring in  Kinesiology, minoring in Biology. He plans to play professionally, then coach.