Twelve PBC Players Selected in Major League Baseball pick, which came in the 22nd round while Beasley was taken by the Oakland Athletics in the 30thround with the 912th selection.
Draft
NEW YORK, NY -- Twelve Peach Belt Conference baseball players saw
their ultimate dreams realized over the weekend as they were selected
in the Major League Baseball first-year player draft. Four of those players came from USC Aiken while three more were from Lander. Flagler
added two players while UNC Pembroke, Montevallo and North Georgia
had one each.
The twelve PBC players selected is the second-most in conference
history behind the 13 selections in 2005. The PBC did set a record with
three players taken in the first nine rounds. Lander’s Mason McCullough
- drafted by the Diamondbacks in the fifth round - becomes the
fourth-highest PBC player ever taken. Kennesaw State’s Matt Pender
was taken with
the 87th pick in
the third round
in 2002 while
Georgia College’s Matt Goyen was also taken in the third
round with the
96th pick of the
2005 draft.
For USC
Aiken,
Ryan
Metzer, Caleb
Smith, Danny
Wissman and
Derek Beasley
were selected.
Metzler, a rising senior from Glen Burnie, Md., was selected by the
Toronto Blue Jays with the 264th overall pick. A 6-3, 190 lb., second
baseman, Metzler had an outstanding two seasons under head coach
Kenny Thomas after transferring from Siena.
As a Pacer, he started all 108 games. He garnered all-Southeast
Region honors in 2013 and was a first-team all-PBC honoree. Metzler
batted .361 during his time on the diamond, including a .365 effort this
year. He tallied a .507 slugging percentage and a .425 on-base percentage. Collectively, Metzler posted 88 RBI while scoring 90 runs. Of his
148 hits, 37 went for extra bases.
In 2014, Metzler had 22 multi-hit performances, including a fiveof-six effort in the win over Georgia Regents, tying the school record for
hits in a contest. He also accounted for 11 multi-RBI games during his
junior season, including three in the NCAA Tournament game against
Lander.
Smith was chosen in the 17thround by the San Francisco Giants.
Wissmann was selected by the San Diego Padres with the 657th overall
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Smith, a 6-3 left-handed hurler from Aiken, S.C., wrapped up his
redshirt-sophomore campaign in 2014 with 17 appearances. He picked
up two saves on the season while tossing 26.2 innings. Dominant from
the mound, Smith averaged 12.15 strikeouts per game. He sported a
3.71 ERA on the season. For his career with the Pacers, Smith threw 51.1
innings with one win and three saves. He also tossed a complete game in
2013.