ORLANDO, Fla. – UCF is sending two more of their knighted aces to the big leagues, as pitchers Jason Bahr and Robby Howell were selected on the second day of the Major League Baseball Draft.
Howell and Bahr were a dominant force for the Knights in their first season under Head Coach Greg Lovelady, combining to fan a collective 192 batters over 163.2 innings pitched on the road to a first-place regular season conference finish.
Drafted in the fifth round by the San Francisco Giants, Bahr was a relatively unknown commodity before the season after missing the cut twice before when Terry Rooney helmed the team. Given a new chance under Coach Lovelady, he flourished in 24 appearances and five starts – holding opponents to a .191 batting average and striking out a team-high 98 batters.
Robby Howell had to wait until the tenth round to hear his name called, but the steady presence was taken 287th overall by the Cincinnati Reds. The Knight’s backbone in his final season as a Knight, Howell tossed 103 innings and served a stable 3.32 ERA, struck out 94 of his own batters, and notched two complete games.
UCF can now lay claim to 93 MLB draft selections, with a ballplayer moving on to the next level in 9 of the last 10 seasons and 34 of those picks in the first ten rounds.
