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BLACKSBURG - On the final day of the 2014 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, Virginia Tech baseball heard one more Hokie name called – as senior pitcher Brad Markey was selected – which runs the Hokies’ streak of having multiple players drafted in a single draft to six straight years.

Markey was chosen in the 19th round with the 559th overall pick by the Chicago Cubs, the same team that drafted junior catcher Mark Zagunis a day before and marks just the third time in Tech’s draft history that the same team chose two Hokies in the same draft. The other times occurred in the 1983 draft – Wayne King (40th round) and Rick Knapp (41st) by the Texas Rangers – and in the 1988 draft – Brad DuVall (1st) and Randy Berlin (25th) by the St. Louis Cardinals.

For the Bel Air, Md., native, this was the second time he was selected in the MLB Draft and he certainly improved his draft position by pitching for two seasons at Tech. Markey bettered his selection by more than 15 rounds and 500 picks. Back in 2012, the New York Mets chose him in the 35th round with the 1,070th pick.

The six straight seasons with multiple choices doubles the most ever before this string, which happened twice before. For three straight drafts, the 1981 through 1983 drafts and the 1988 through 1990 drafts, the Hokies had at least two players drafted.

Over the past six seasons, Tech has seen 20 of its players chosen in the draft with 15 of those never being drafted before arriving in Blacksburg. Of the five chosen before coming to Tech, all improved their draft choice by at least 500 picks and averaged almost 730 spots better.

For a complete listing of the Hokies Major League Baseball draft history, click here.

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