Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Marshall Baseball: Big day for Herd in MLB Draft

Major League Baseball conducted the third day (rounds 31 to 50) of it’s armature draft this afternoon and five Marshall University players have been selected.

First to come off the board in the 36th round was sophomore outfielder Isaac Ballou by Pittsburgh. Playing mostly center field in 2011, Ballou stole a team high 18 bases while hitting .283. As a rising junior Ballou has the option of returning to Marshall instead of going pro.

Also taken in the 36th round was senior starting pitcher Arik Sikula to Toronto. During 2011 Sikula, a Hurricane High School (WV) graduate, compiled a 2-6 record with a 5.42 ERA. Although his ERA was a bit inflated Sikula struck out an impressive 72 batters to only 27 base on balls.

Princeton West Virginia native Joe Church was selected in the 40th round by Anaheim. Recovering from offseason surgery the hard throwing Church had an ERA of 8.31 in 2011, all relief appearances. Much like Ballou, Church can return to Marshall for his junior year.

Team batting average leader Kenny Socorro was selected in the 44th round by Chicago (NL). In addition to leading Marshall in batting average the senior infielder knocked in 27 RBI’s and scored 32 runs.

Blue Jays skipper John Farrel selected his son Shane in the 46th round. A swingman out of the bullpen, Farrel pitched 45.1 innings in 2011 (9 starts) with a 4.76 ERA. Farrel will be entering his senior season at Marshall if he decides to bypass the pros.

Marshall also had three players selected in day two of the draft, Jr/LHP Mike Mason (23rd round, Texas), Jr/OF Rhett Stafford (22nd round, Oakland), and jr/LHP Greg Williams (12th round, Texas). Mason, Stafford, and Williams all have the option of returning to Marshall for their senior seasons.

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