Baseball, Men's Sports, Sports

Dreams are closer for the four Dirtbags picked up by the MLB

For the second consecutive year, four Dirtbags were drafted to the MLB.

Pitcher Andrew Rohrbach was the only Dirtbag drafted on the second day, chosen by the Colorado Rockies as a ninth round pick. The Rockies also selected right fielder Richard Prigatano in the eleventh round.

Third baseman Michael Hill was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 22nd round, making Hill the only senior to be selected. In the 28th round, the San Francisco Giants drafted pitcher Nick Sabo, who started the season as the Friday night starter for the Dirtbags.

The Rockies seemed to like the Big West conference in the draft. From round nine to round 14, the Rockies drafted four different Big West players. Rohrbach and Prigatano were the first two, and were joined by UC Irvine infielder Chris Rabago and Cal State Fullerton pitcher Grahamm Wiest.

In total, 37 Big West athletes were drafted in the MLB Draft. The Oakland A’s made CSUF’s infielder Matt Chapman the only Big West first-round pick. Cal Poly’s Matt Imhof and Irvine’s Taylor Sparks and Andrew Morales were the other first-day Big West selections.

Despite their fourth place finish in conference, CSUF had the most players drafted in the Big West, with a total of seven players drafted. Conference champion Cal Poly had six players drafted, as did sixth place UC Riverside. Irvine had five players, and Long Beach State and Santa Barbara each had four players selected over the weekend.

Three high school players that had committed to LBSU were also drafted. Edison High School’s Brian Schales was drafted in the fourth round by the Miami Marlins; Kaiser High School’s Chris Matherson was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 28th round; and the A’s drafted Fountain Valley’s Brock Lundquist. These players have the option to enter into Rookie Ball or keep their commitment to LBSU.

The Dirtbags are known for playing a tough non-conference schedule, and this year was no different. Blair Field played host to 62 players that were drafted. Indiana’s Kyle Schwarber was the highest pick to play at Blair this season as the No. 4 overall pick with a three-game series to forget back in March. The power-hitting catcher went 2-13 in the three games against the Dirtbags, and made two errors, one of which was a passed ball that gave the Dirtbags a walk-off victory in game one.

In total, 1,215 high school and college baseball players heard their names called over the weekend. Some will never see the major leagues, but for Rohrbach, Prigatano, Hill and Sabo, the dream is that much closer.

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