Pat-Med Baseball Stars Drafted

Two Patchogue-Medford High School baseball stars could one day be playing in the major leagues.

The Oakland Athletics drafted Junior Mendez, a junior at Southern New Hampshire University, with the 491st overall pick in the 16th round. Also, the Arizona Diamondbacks selected Matthew Vogel, a pitcher, with the 1,080th pick in round 36.

In 14 appearances this season (13 starts), Mendez was 9-3 with a 1.67 earned run average, striking out 133 in 97 innings with only 17 walks. He led Division II in strikeouts and ranked second in strikeouts per nine innings (12.34) and was sixth in strikeout/walk ratio (7.82). 

The junior pitcher was an American Baseball Coaches Association Third Team All-American and an honorable mention All-America selection by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. He was also a consensus First Team All-Region pick as well as a Northeast-10 First Team All-Conference choice.

"Junior's been a three-year starter and he's had a tremendous career up to this point. He had an unbelievable season for us in 2013," Scott Loiseau, Southern New Hampshire University’s head coach, said in a press release.

In three seasons at Southern New Hampshire, Mendez sits second in program history in career strikeouts (248) and earned run average (2.01) and is also tied for second for career wins with 17.

Vogel, who previously committed to attend South Carolina, is graduating from Patchogue-Medford High School later this month. According to perfectgame.org, his fastball has been clocked at 93 milers per hours.

On this Twitter feed, Vogel on Saturday wrote, “Honored to be drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks, but SC here I come!! #Gamecocks.”