ABILENE – It took until the 50th round on Wednesday, but the ACU Wildcats had a player drafted in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft as the Tampa Bay Rays picked catcher
Ian Tomkins with the next-to-last pick of the draft.
Tomkins was taken by the Rays with pick No. 1,529 in this year's draft, becoming the first Wildcat to be drafted since Trey Watten was selected in the seventh round of the 2008 draft by the Milwaukee Brewers.
In two seasons with the Wildcats after transferring from Wake Forest, Tomkins hit .307 (86 for 280) with four home runs and 50 RBI. He threw out 17 of 90 baserunners over those two years.
As a junior in 2010, Tomkins helped the Wildcats to a school-record 50 wins in a campaign that saw them win the Lone Star Conference championship and reach the NCAA Division II South Central Region championship game before a loss to Central Missouri ended the Wildcats' season at 50-15.
