MOREHEAD, Ky. — Morehead State redshirt junior left-handed pitcher Dalton Stambaugh heard his name called Wednesday during the 2019 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
The Fredericktown native and Highland High School graduate who was a First-Team All-Ohio Valley Conference pick this season, was chosen by the Baltimore Orioles organization as the first pick of the 30th round.
He is the first Morehead State player to be selected by the Orioles, and his pick marks the fifth straight season that head coach Mike McGuire’s program has had at least one player chosen in the draft.
“I am really happy for Dalton to get selected in today’s draft,” McGuire said. “It’s very rewarding as a coach to see your players develop the way he has.”
Stambaugh led the Eagles to new heights in 2019, setting the school record for wins with 40 and reaching the OVC Championship title game for the second straight season. Stambaugh posted a 7-4 record with a 3.84 earned run average (the best for all Eagle starters).
He recorded 104 strikeouts, making him the seventh pitcher in program history to notch at least 100 punchouts in a season. All six of the previous pitchers who had 100 Ks in a season were also drafted.
“Dalton has worked extremely hard since he stepped foot on our campus to transform himself from a soft tossing left-handed pitcher into, in my opinion, the best starting pitcher in the OVC,” McGuire added.
In his career, Stambaugh has posted 17 victories and 238 strikeouts.
Stambaugh put together six different efforts of at least nine strikeouts in a game in 2019, including an 8.1-inning gem against Eastern Kentucky in the OVC Tournament. He also shut out eventual tournament champion Jacksonville State with a two-hit, eight-strikeout effort that earned him OVC Pitcher of the Week.
