SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? After 22 Southern Conference baseball players were taken on day two of the Major League Baseball Draft, eight additional student-athletes were drafted on Thursday, bringing the total to an all-time high of 30 SoCon draftees.

 

Elon’s Chase Austin was the highest player taken, as the third baseman was the fifth-round selection (158 overall) of the Florida Marlins. Also going in the first 10 rounds were Western Carolina’s Nick Liles (7^th, 207, San Francisco), UNC Greensboro’s Rob Gilliam (8^th, 243, Oakland) and The Citadel’s Richard Jones (9^th, 290, Chicago Cubs).

 

Nine of the 11 SoCon teams had at least one player selected, led by Elon with seven. Appalachian State, College of Charleston, The Citadel, Georgia Southern and Western Carolina all had four players drafted while Davidson, UNC Greensboro and Wofford had one apiece.

 

The 30 draftees for the league is an all-time high, eclipsing the previous high of 24 selected in 2008. Elon’s seven players chosen ties for second in SoCon history with College of Charleston’s 2007 class, trailing the Cougars’ nine selections from 2008.

 

 

SoCon Players Selected in the 2009 MLB Draft

 

Round  Overall   Player                    School                              Pos.        Team

5^th         158        Chase Austin           Elon                                  3B           Florida

7^th         207        Nick Liles                Western Carolina                2B           San Francisco

8^th         243        Rob Gilliam             UNC Greensboro               RHP        Oakland

9^th         290        Richard Jones         The Citadel                        C             Chicago (NL)

11^th       328        Chris Masters          Western Carolina                LHP         Atlanta

13^th       408        Chris McGuiness     The Citadel                        1B           Boston

14^th       418        Cory Harrilchak        Elon                                  OF           Atlanta

14^th       426        Brent Greer             Western Carolina                SS           Arizona

14^th       439        Zach Quate             Appalachian State              RHP        Tampa Bay

16^th       474        Griffin Benedict       Georgia Southern               C             San Diego

20^th       601        Dallas Tarleton        Elon                                  C             Colorado

20^th       608        Rand Smith             Appalachian State              OF           Florida

21^st       628        Matt Crim                The Citadel                        LHP         Atlanta

22^nd       660        Matt Mansilla           College of Charleston        OF           Detroit

22^nd       669        Joey Bergman         College of Charleston        3B           St. Louis

22^nd       673        Zach Kayne             Davidson                          SS           Chicago (AL)

24^th       735        Isaac Harrow           Appalachian State              3B           New York (AL)

25^th       744        Ty Wright                Georgia Southern               OF           San Diego

25^th       753        Chris Medeors         Georgia Southern               RHP        Oakland

27^th       813        Michael Gilmartin     Wofford                            SS           Oakland

27^th       830        Corey Martin           Western Carolina                RHP        Chicago (NL)

30^th       916        Brandon Sizemore   College of Charleston        2B           Milwaukee

33^rd       985        Pat Irvine                Elon                                  LF           Pittsburgh

35^th       1064       Wes Wrenn             The Citadel                        RHP        New York (NL)

38^th       1136       Josh Dowdy           Appalachian State              RHP        Baltimore

40^th       1194       Tom Porter              Elon                                  RHP        San Diego

40^th       1209       Jesse Simpson       College of Charleston        RHP        St. Louis

41^st       1233       Justin Hilt                Elon                                  RF           Oakland

42^nd       1279       Bennett Davis         Elon                                  3B/C        Tampa Bay

44^th       1315       Dexter Bobo           Georgia Southern               LHP         Pittsburgh