COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State junior left fielder Zach Hurley, from Springboro, Ohio, was drafted in the 45th round of Major League Baseball’s amateur draft today (Thursday) by the Florida Marlins.

“I was sitting at home working on my computer and all of a sudden my phone started blowing up with all kinds of text messages and calls,” Hurley said by phone. “Then my Mom and Dad started yelling from upstairs that I had just been drafted.”

Hurley is coming off a fine junior season, one in which he set records and came close to breaking others. Hitting leadoff for the Big Ten champion Buckeyes all season, Hurley hit .346 with a team-high 89 hits – second among Big Ten Conference players this season and fourth all-time for a single season at Ohio State – along with 58 runs scored (T4th in the Big Ten) and 53 RBI (T10th in the Big Ten). He also led the team with 14 stolen bases, and along the way he broke the school record for single season at-bats with 257 and he tied for second in triples with a Big Ten-leading six.

Hurley is a senior academically and is three quarters shy of graduating with his degree in family resource management/consumer science. He was named this season to the Academic All-Big Ten Conference team for the second time and he was an OSU Scholar-Athlete for the third time.

Now he gets to add “MLB Draft Pick” to his resume of accomplishments.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Hurley explained. “I haven’t spoken to anyone with the Marlins yet but right now all I know is it is a tremendous honor to be drafted. Not a lot of people get to say that they were drafted in their lifetime. It’s exciting.”

Hurley is the second Buckeye taken in the MLB Draft this year. Wednesday the Arizona Diamondbacks selected senior closer Jake Hale in the 27th round.

The two draft picks represent the eighth consecutive year that Ohio State has had at least two of its players selected in the MLB Draft.

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