Matt Murray First Eagle off the Board in 2011 MLB Draft
6/7/2011 8:34:00 PM | Baseball
SECAUCUS, N.J. - Junior pitcher Matt Murray became the first member of the Georgia Southern Baseball team to be selected in the 2011 MLB Draft when the Kansas City Royals picked him with the fifth selection of the 10th round. The Royals, who recently called up former Eagle pitcher Everett Teaford, took Murray with the 306th pick of the draft.
The Spring City, Pa., native had a fine season on the mound and served as the team's closer for the 2011 season. He went 4-3 with a 2.39 ERA and tallied nine saves over 67.2 innings of work. Murray spent the first two seasons of his Eagle career in the starting rotation and has a career record of 16-9 with a 4.45 ERA over 30 starts.
Kansas City selected a Georgia Southern player for the second season in a row, tabbing Shawn Payne (Stone Mountain, Ga.) in the 44th round of the 2010 draft.
The draft continues today with rounds 2-30 and will wrap up tomorrow, June 7th, with rounds 31-50. The draft starts at noon and runs until the scheduled rounds are completed.
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