SECAUCUS, N.J. – University of Louisville junior first baseman Andrew Clark and Cardinals’ signee Matthew Koch were each selected during the final day of the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Thursday afternoon taking the total of 2009 draft selections with ties to the Cards’ program to five.
Clark, a 6-3, 220-pound native of New Palestine, Ind., was taken in the 31st round as the 950th selection overall by the Chicago Cubs, while Koch, a 6-3, 185-pound right-handed pitcher from Cherokee, Iowa, was the 1,128th selection overall in the 37th round by the Boston Red Sox.
On Wednesday, Louisville signee Jason Thompson, a switch-hitting shortstop from Germantown, Tenn., was selected in the 11th round as the 348th pick overall by Boston. On Tuesday night, junior third baseman Chris Dominguez was selected in the third round and 86th overall by the San Francisco Giants, while junior lefty lefty Justin Marks was taken 92nd overall by the Oakland Athletics. Both Dominguez and Marks plan to sign professional contracts ending their collegiate careers.
In his second season in Louisville after transferring from Ole Miss, Clark was second on the team in hitting in 2009 with a .350 average overall while starting 64 games at first base. He also led the team in walks with 55, fourth most in school history, and finished with nine home runs and 55 RBI. In 2009, he earned All-BIG EAST Second Team honors and the Jack Kaiser Award as the Most Outstanding Player of the BIG EAST Tournament.
Koch, from Cherokee Washington High School, signed with the Cardinals last fall as the top rated player in the state of Iowa and a top 100 player in the nation according to Baseball America. He is one of the extremely talented signees in the recruiting class of 2009 for head coach Dan McDonnell.
The Cards closed out their 2009 season on Saturday with an NCAA Super Regional loss at No. 2 Cal State Fullerton. Louisville finished with a 47-18 record overall after sweeping the BIG EAST Conference regular season and tournament titles. U of L advanced to its second Super Regional in three years after earning a 5-3 win over Vanderbilt in the title game of the NCAA Regional at Jim Patterson Stadium, the first ever NCAA Baseball Regional in Louisville.
