Philadelphia Phillies Draft Durham

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Pitcher Ian Durham is now the 18th Cal Lutheran player drafted by a Major League Baseball organization.

Photo: Scott Chisholm

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Cal Lutheran senior pitcher Ian Durham was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday in the 28th round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft. With the selection, Durham becomes the 18th member of the Kingsmen baseball program drafted since Major League Baseball instituted its amateur draft in 1965.

Results: 2011 MLB First-Year Player Draft

Durham is the first Kingsmen drafted since 2009 when the Los Angeles Dodgers selected second baseman David Iden in the 35th round.

"This is the right time for Ian to take the next step to compete in professional baseball," stated Cal Lutheran baseball head coach Marty Slimak, "his best days are yet to come."

During his senior season at Cal Lutheran, the right-hander was named a starter in nine of his 13 games played, going 4-4 with a 4.22 ERA. In his 59.2 innings pitched throughout the 2011 season, Durham struck out 58 batters, the second-highest total on the team and fourth-highest mark in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC).

A member of the 2010 All-SCIAC Second Team, Durham ends his four-year career at Cal Lutheran with an 8-8 record, 4.70 ERA, seven saves, and averaged nearly one strikeout per inning as he retired 132 batters throughout his 132.2 innings pitched.

Serving as Cal Lutheran's primary reliever throughout most of his collegiate career, Durham solidified his spot in the 2011 starting rotation after finishing the previous season with a conference-high six saves and an impressive performance throughout all five of his starts in 2010.

Named a starter by Slimak in 15 games, Durham now occupies 10th place all-time in the program's record books alongside Justin Keeling with his 44 career appearances.

Four SCIAC senior pitchers were drafted throughout the three-day event, a list of right-handers that includes Brooks Belter from Occidental College (Tampa Bay, Round 25), David Colvin from Pomona-Pitzer (Seattle, Round 27), and Alexander Sunderland from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Seattle, Round 38).