MACON, Ga. – Right-handed pitcher
Lath Guyer became the second Mercer baseball player to be selected in Friday’s Major League Baseball’s amateur draft when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays picked him in the 48th round.
Guyer , a 6-foot-2 rising senior, posted a perfect 2-0 record and a 4.54 ERA in 21 relief appearances on the mound last season for Mercer.
The native of Athens, Ga., came on strong for the Bears, surrendering just two earned runs and struck out 13 batters in his last 15.2 innings in 2008. He fanned a season-high six and did not allow a run to earn a three inning save against USC Upstate back in March and allowed one earned run and struck out four versus Gardner-Webb on April 25.
Guyer did not allow an earned run in his last five appearances of the regular season.
Guyer and teammate Matt Crawford’s selections marked the third consecutive year that Mercer has had two players selected in the draft, joining Andrew Urena (Chicago White Sox) and Brantley New (Boston Red Sox) in 2006 and Cory Gearrin (Atlanta Braves) and Josh Thompson (Florida Marlins) in 2007.