By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – For the 10th time in the past 12 years, the Tennessee Tech baseball team saw one of its own take the next step in their career by earning a selection in the MLB Draft. Just a year after seeing an Ohio Valley Conference-record eight of his teammates selected to begin their professional careers, All-American Kevin Strohschein joined the group among the ranks to hear his name called in the draft.
Selected with 16th selection of the 21st round by the Washington Nationals, Strohschein officially closes the book on of the greatest careers written by a Tennessee Tech student-athlete. As a senior, the McDonough, Ga. native became just the second player in the history of the league to win OVC Player of the Year for a third time while earning his fourth All-OVC accolade.
In his final campaign donning the purple and gold, Strohschein spent the majority of the season rewriting the Tech and OVC record books and establishing himself as one of the best to ever represent the conference. He closed out the year ranked first in the OVC in hits (89), doubles (23) and total bases (161), third in batting average (.382), runs (57) and slugging percentage (.691), fourth in home runs (15) and fifth in on base percentage (.447).
The first-ever player in the history of the OVC to win Player and Rookie of the Year in the same season (2016), the outfielder finished 10thin NCAA history in career hits with 362. His 247 RBI, 74 doubles, 62 home runs, 642 total bases and 1,009 at bats all established new league and program marks for a career, while his 238 runs scored (three off the record) and 236 games played and started (one off the record) each finished as the second most ever by an OVC player.