June 8, 2005

LAS VEGAS - UNLV baseball had three players selected Wednesday during the second day of the Major League Baseball draft, bringing the total number of Rebel players picked to four after Matt Luca, Zeke Parraz and Wayne Foltin all were drafted.

Derek Rodriguez was picked by the Chicago White Sox on the opening day of the draft in the 14th round of the draft with the 425th pick, marking the 21st-consecutive year that a Rebel player had been drafted.

Parraz was the first Rebel to be drafted Wednesday, going in the 25th round to the Oakland Athletics with the 761st pick in the draft. Parraz was third on the Rebel squad this year with a .344 batting average and he led the club in hits (85), triples (3) and RBI (63). The shortstop was named to the All-Mountain West Conference team and the MWC All-Tournament squad. Parraz was also named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine District 8 Academic team.

Luca was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 27th round with the 824th pick of the draft. Luca wrapped up his junior season with the Rebels with a record of 5-7 and a 4.94 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 16 starts. Luca was named to the MWC All-Tournament team after helping the Rebels win their third-consecutive league championship. In his three years at UNLV the junior right-hander compiled an overall record of 17-12 with 212 strikeouts.

Foltin was taken in the 31st round by the San Francisco Giants with the 942nd pick of the draft. Foltin pitched out of the UNLV bullpen this season and in 29 appearances the junior right-hander struck out 40 men in 28.2 innings.