Evan Kruczynski drafted in ninth round by St. Louis Cardinals

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina senior left-handed pitcher Evan Kruczynski was selected in the ninth round by the St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday afternoon during the second day of the 2017 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

Kruczynski, who earned All-America honors as a junior and finished his career with a 20-8 record, was taken with the 274th overall pick in the ninth round and is the first Pirate selected in this year’s amateur draft. He is the just the second player in school history to be taken by the Cardinals following Seth Maness in 2011 (11th round).

The San Diego Padres selected ECU commitment MacKenzie Gore on day one of the MLB Draft with the third overall pick in the first round.

Evan Kruczynski – 2017 Biographical Sketch

Team co-captain that appeared in 10 games (all starts) posting a 4-3 record with a 4.47 ERA … Finished the season with 48 strikeouts to just seven walks in 56.1 innings … Held opposing hitters to a .279 composite batting average … Allowed 30 runs (28 earned) on 61 hits … Surrendered three or less earned runs in eight of 10 starts … Tossed eight shutout innings at Cincinnati allowing one hit with six strikeouts earning AAC Pitcher-of-the-Week honors (April 24) … In that outing allowed lone hit in the first inning with two outs before retiring the final 22 batters he faced (set down 24 of 25 hitters in the outing) … Worked into the sixth inning six times with a season-high 8.0 innings against the Bearcats … Fanned five or more batters in an outing on six occasions … Notched wins against Cincinnati, Memphis, Tulane and UCF … Started a pair of AAC Tournament games (UCF/win, No. 17 Houston/loss) with the latter coming in the championship game … Suffered injury against Western Carolina (March 3) in the LeClair Classic and returned against UCF (April 15) … 2017 Senior CLASS Award Finalist … Named to three preseason All-America teams (NCBWA/second-team, Collegiate Baseball/third-team, Perfect Game/third-team) … Tabbed preseason American Athletic Conference Co-Pitcher-of-the-Year and preseason First-Team All-AAC … Listed as the No. 11 prospect in The American and No. 17 overall starting pitcher in the country by D1Baseball.

Career Notes: Recorded 29 career quality starts … Third-Team All-America by D1Baseball (2016) … Honorable Mention All-America by Perfect Game (2016) … Named to Charlottesville All-Regional Team (2016) … First-Team All-American Athletic Conference (2016) … Golden Spikes Midseason Watch List (2016) … College Baseball National Pitcher-of-the-Year Watch List (2016) … Greg Olson Award Semifinalist (2016) … Three-time Williams Jungle Pitching MVP (2015-17) … Received the Gaylord Perry Amateur Pitching Award as the top non-professional hurler in North Carolina from the Wilson Hot Stove League (2016) … Became 11th pitcher in program history to win the pitching crown leading the team in wins (8), strikeouts (95) and ERA (2.01) … Worked 116.2 innings as a junior, which ranks second on the single-season charts … His .889 win percentage in 2016 (8-1) is tied for eighth on the Pirates single-season charts … Winning pitcher in ECU’s first-ever AAC game (vs. Memphis/March 28, 2015) … Ranked among The American leaders (Top 5) in pickoffs the last three season (2015-17) including leading the league in 2016 with nine (17 for career) … Winning pitcher for ECU’s first-ever super regional win at No. 5 National Seed Texas Tech in Lubbock Super Regional (June 10, 2016) … Three-time AAC Honor Roll selection (twice in 2015, once in 2016) … Struck out a career-best 13 batters at Tulane (April 11, 2016) … Fanned seven or more batters in a game 11 times (10 or more twice) … Had career starts that went seven-place innings … Five-time ECU Director of Athletics Honor Roll member … Two-time American Athletic Conference All-Academic Team selection (2015-16).

Career Numbers at ECU: 20-8 record, 3.00 ERA, 273.1 IP, 46 games (43 starts), 276 hits, 108 runs, 91 earned runs, 61 walks, 216 strikeouts, two complete games, one shutout.

CAREER HIGHS - innings pitched: 9.0 (2x - last vs. MEM-1 3/28/15); strikeouts: 13 at TUL (4/8/16); walks: 5 at TTU (6/10/16); hits: 11 at UCF (5/19/16); runs: 7 (3x - last vs. USF 5/13/16); earned runs: 6 (2x - last vs. USF 5/13/16).