MOBILE, Ala. – A pair of members of the University of South Alabama baseball team will have an opportunity to continue playing at the professional level after the conclusion of 10 rounds of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Friday afternoon.

On the second of three days of the draft, the Colorado Rockies chose Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Jordan Patterson with the third pick of the fourth round (109th overall) while the Kansas City Royals selected Jag closer Kyle Bartsch eighth in the seventh round (204th overall).

Patterson was named first-team all-league as a utility player this spring after leading the squad and ranking sixth in the Sun Belt with a .352 batting average while collecting 82 hits, 25 doubles, 69 runs scored and 49 RBI.  A junior from Mobile, he was also walked 41 times and hit by a pitch on 21 occasions to finish with a .485 on-base percentage; he paced the Sun Belt in the category, and was tied for the lead in doubles, ranked second in runs and fifth in hits as well.  On the mound, the 6-foot-5, 210-pound left-hander recorded a 1.84 earned run average, two saves and 17 strikeouts against just six walks in 14.2 innings pitched.

Patterson’s selection is the highest a Jaguar has been taken in the draft since the Toronto Blue Jays picked Adam Lind in the third round in 2004.

Bartsch posted a 3-0 mark, 12 saves and a 3.12 ERA in 22 appearances last season, all in relief, to be voted second-team all-SBC.  He fanned 35 batters in 26 innings, walked only 11 and allowed the opposition to bat just .189 against him in his final year of eligibility.  The 6-foot, 200-pound native of Hurst, Texas, finished second in the league in saves while tying the school season record in the category originally set by former All-American Mike Nakamura in 1998; as the first individual in program history to record back-to-back years with 10 or more saves, Bartsch departs as the all-time leader at USA with 22 in two seasons.

Patterson and Bartsch helped lead the Jaguars to a 43-20 finish in 2013, a share of the Sun Belt regular-season championship after going 20-10 in league play and to the program’s first NCAA Regional berth since 2006.

It marks the first time since 2007 — when Jeff Cunningham was selected by the Rockies in the seventh round and the Blue Jays chose Joel Collins in the 10th — that two Jags have been drafted in the first 10 rounds in the same year.

South Alabama has had at least one student-athlete sign a professional contract with a MLB organization every year but one dating back to 1971.  Four former USA players — David Freese (St. Louis Cardinals), Lind, Juan Pierre (Miami Marlins) and P.J. Walters (Minnesota Twins) — are currently active in the majors, with seven more playing at the minor league level.

The MLB draft includes 40 rounds and will conclude on Saturday.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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