By JONATHAN HULL
Sports Editor
Only one other Howard College Hawk was taken in the third and final day of Major League Baseball's First-Year Player Draft Thursday and it took nearly the entire event for his name to be called.
Freshman right-hander Burch Smith was the final Hawk to be selected by a team, when the Cleveland Indians pulled the trigger in the 49th round. Smith was the 1,475th pick. Most likely, Smith will be returning to the Hawks for another season with hopes of improving his draft stock. Smith appeared in 14 games this season, starting in 11. He finished the year with a 4-0 record and a 3.05 ERA in 41.1 innings pitched. Smith had 48 strikeouts and 27 walks. Most of the time, he was the team's No. 4 starter, taking the mound to open the final game of four-game series during Western Junior College Athletic Conference play. He was an honorable mention selection to the WJCAC All-Conference team. Smith was the fourth Hawk selected in the draft as three of his teammates went during the second day Wednesday. Center fielder Runey Davis was the first Hawk off the board, being selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 12th round. Davis was a NJCAA Gold Glove winner and was named the NJCAA/Easton Division I Baseball Defensive Player of the Year. Relief pitcher Hunter Hill was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 13th round. The Rays are said to view Hill as a potential closer. Finally in the 27th round, freshman left fielder Joe Leftridge was taken by the Atlanta Braves. However, Leftridge is expected to return to Howard next season for his sophomore year. A former Hawk was also taken Wednesday. Cameron Monger manned center field for Howard two years in 2007 and 2008. Monger continued his career at the University of New Mexico. He was selected by the San Diego Padres in the 27th round with the 804th overall pick. Many believed the Hawks were going to have more than four players selected in the draft. As many as 12 players were believed to be able to garner enough interest from MLB clubs to be taken. However, Britt Smith wasn't surprised at the sparse numbers. "I really wasn't shocked. We have some guys who were drawing interest from teams, but our players have really good college programs in their back pocket. That means they're not going to sign for cheap," explained Smith. "That's really what a lot of it is about."
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