BASEBALL

Roster  |  Coaches  |  Schedule / Results  |  News

BUFFALO, NY ­ Senior infielder Joe Mihalics (Tonawanda, NY/Timon-St. Jude) was selected by the New York Mets in the 34th round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft Wednesday afternoon. Mihalics is the first University at Buffalo baseball player to be drafted since the Bulls reinstated baseball at the Division I level in 2000 and the first since Bob Williams and Marty Cerny, both pitchers, were selected in the 1986 draft. He is the first position player to enter professional baseball since Paul Daddario, a shortstop, was drafted in 1983.

Joe Mihalics

"It's always been my dream to play at the next level and this is just amazing right now," said Mihalics. "I'm just excited. My friends were calling and telling me I got drafted and I didn't believe it was really true until the Mets called. All I wanted was an opportunity, and now I have it and I'm ready to work hard."

Mihalics will fly to St. Lucie, FL next week for workouts with the Mets' other draft picks. From there, he will be assigned to a minor league affiliate, most likely the Brooklyn Cyclones of the New York-Penn League or the Kingsport Mets of the Appalachian League in Kingsport, TN.

"This is an exciting day for Buffalo baseball and we're so proud of Joe," said UB head coach Bill Breene. "There's not a more deserving player than Joe Mihalics. He has the mental makeup to move up in the ranks of professional baseball, and he's going to be a great representative of the University at Buffalo."

Last week, Mihalics was ranked 16th in Baseball America's draft scouting report of New York state in a list of 25 potential Major League Baseball draft prospects. A tri-captain of this year's squad, Mihalics enjoyed a record-breaking career at UB, as he became the first player in school history to reach 200 hits, finishing his career with 234 to go along with his hefty .322 batting average. He also broke the school's record for runs, crossing the plate 136 times in his career. He also set UB single-season records for hits (76, 2004) and runs (43, 2004), as well as entering UB's career top 10 in RBIs (97, fourth), triples (12, third), doubles (30, fifth) and games played (191, second).

Mihalics being drafted capped off a banner day for the UB baseball program as freshman infielder Mike Folli (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) was named to Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's 2005 Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American Team earlier in the morning.

"This is definitely a great day for our program," said Breene. "We're proud of both of these accomplishments, but especially of Joe being drafted. Recruits look at your program to see if they'll have the opportunity to go to the next level, and hopefully Joe will be the first player drafted in a long line to come."

"I didn't have too many opportunities to play Division I baseball coming out of high school, but Coach Breene gave me that opportunity," added Mihalics. "I came here and worked hard and that shows that it can be done. We have talent here that can play at the next level."