4 Vaqueros picked in Major League Draft

Four SBCC baseball players have been chosen in the 2015 Major League Draft, led by sixth-round pick Tyler Gilbert.

Gilbert, a star left-handed pitcher for the Vaqueros in 2013-14, went in the sixth round to the Philadelphia Phillies. The 6-3 Gilbert, who just completed his junior year at USC, was the 174th overall pick. He went 5-2 for the Trojans with a 2.79 ERA in 67.2 innings. He had the second-most strikeouts on the team (66), making six starts and also working out of the bullpen.

He came up big in the NCAA Regionals, getting a huge strikeout with two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth inning of an elimination game vs. No. 13 UCSB. He got the save in that 12-3 win and picked up a win the next day with 2.1 innings of one-hit relief vs. San Diego State.

Pierce Romero, a hard-throwing right-hander on the 2015 Vaqueros, was the first pick in the ninth round by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Romero, who signed to play for Nebraska, went 2-0 for the Vaqueros with a 5.50 ERA in 18 innings.

SBCC had one of its most successful seasons this year, winning the WSC North title and finishing fifth in the state with a 33-11 record.

Gilbert was the second current or former California Community College player picked in the draft and Romero was the sixth.

       CCCAA Student-Athletes in the 2015 MLB Draft

Zack Zehner, a former Vaquero outfielder, played the last two years for Cal Poly. He was chosen in the 18th round by the New York Yankees after hitting .304 with nine homers this season.

Paddy O'Brien, a catcher on the 2014 SBCC squad that also tied for fifth in the state, was taken by the Yankees in the 24th round. O'Brien, a 6-5, 230-pounder, hit .391 in 64 at-bats as a sophomore for UCSB this year with two homers and 19 RBIs. He was a catcher for the Gauchos but was chosen as a right-handed pitcher.