June 12, 2009

Three more Tigers taken in MLB draft

With three current or former Cowley College baseball players taken on the second day of the Major League Baseball Draft, three additional Tigers were taken on Thursday, bringing the total to six current or former Tigers selected in the 2009 draft.

Following the selections of Michael Dabbs (17th round), Trevor Rosenthal (21st round), and Stephen Kohlscheen (30th round) on day two of the draft, Cowley first baseman Ryan Hege (39th round), and centerfielder Ronald Melendez (50th round) joined former Tiger pitcher Lance Hoge (36th round) as players selected on Thursday.

“I am extremely excited for those kids,” Cowley head coach Dave Burroughs said. “This is a direct result from the hard work they have put in, they deserve it.”

The six players drafted shows the respect given to the players in the Tiger baseball program, which has won two national championships and qualified for the JUCO World Series seven times in the past 14 seasons.

“This is a testament to our program and the kind of guys we get to come here,” Burroughs said.

Hege, a freshman from Wichita, batted .353 with five home runs, 16 doubles and 33 runs batted in. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels. Melendez, a freshman from Jacksonville, FL, batted .367 with four home runs, 14 doubles, and 38 RBI. Melendez also stole 18 bases and scored 51 runs in 59 games. He was selected by the Texas Rangers.

Hoge, who led the Tiger pitching staff in wins (11) during the 2007 season, while earning honorable mention All-American honors, spent the past two seasons at Kansas State University.

As a senior at KSU, Hoge went 6-4 with a 4.54 earned run average. He was the winning pitcher in Kansas State’s first ever NCAA Tournament game against Xavier. He was drafted by the New York Mets.

In his final season at Cowley, Hoge struck out 97 and walked only 19, while tossing nine complete games and three shutouts.