Thomas And Gregersen Each Snagged By Pro Teams On Friday
6/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 7, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. - Lumberjack right-handed pitchers Kevin Thomas and Erik Gregersen were selected in the 33rd and 37th rounds of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds, marking the third consecutive year SFA has had at least one player picked up in the draft.
Thomas was selected with the 955th pick overall by the Cardinals after coming on strong as a starter in the latter part of the season for the `Jacks, getting wins in his last four appearances. In those four appearances he was outstanding, posting a 2.01 ERA in that span with 15 strikeouts in 22.1 innings. That included his first complete game of his career against UT-Arlington on May 11, the second complete game win of that series for SFA.
Overall, Thomas used those last four wins to tie for the top spot on the `Jacks roster with six wins for the year and finished tied with Gregersen for the top spot on the team with 62 strikeouts for the year. He finished with a 6.27 ERA for the year in 18 appearances, including 10 starts.
The Pollok, Texas, native was drafted out of Central High School by the Kansas City Royals but decided to attend Northwestern State in 2004 and 2005 before spending the spring of 2006 at Texarkana Junior College. He then came to SFA for the 2007 season where he picked up a pair of wins and 18 strikeouts with a 3.71 ERA in 19 appearances.
Gregersen, a junior from Sugar Land, Texas, was the 1,079th pick of the draft by the Reds and earned his first start since his freshman year against Louisiana-Monroe on March 25th. After that he was a starter in eight of his next 12 appearances.
He went at least seven full innings in three of those starts and had a career best seven strikeouts against conference champion UT-San Antonio on April 18th. He finished with a 7.53 ERA for the year, but intrigued the MLB scouts with his prototypical 6-5 frame and live arm to earn his selection.
-SFA-
