| James Keithley | Tim Palincsar |
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. ? Junior shortstop James Keithley and sophomore designated hitter Tim Palincsar were selected on Friday during the second and final day of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft.
Keithley was a 39th-round pick by the Washington Nationals (1,171st overall). A two-time second-team All-Southland Conference selection, the San Antonio native had yet another outstanding season this spring. He made thetransition to shortstop and continued to post staggeringnumbers out of the lead-off spot in the lineup. Keithley hit .358 with a UTSA-record and league-high 73 runs scored this season to go along with 16 doubles, a pair oftriples, six homers and 32 RBIs. He also owned a squad-best 30multi-hit performances, walked 26 times and reached base at a .423clip, registered a .514 slugging percentage and swiped a team-leading15 bases. Keithley hit safely in a school-record 27 games from March8-April 20, which was among the top 10 hitting streaks nationally thispast year, and recorded at least one safety in 51 of the 57 tilts heplayed this season. His hot-hitting ways carried over to the conferencecampaign, as he hit .366 with 10 doubles, two triples, three bombs and16 RBIs in addition to leading the league with 42 runs.
Palincsar, a 2008 second-team All-SLC choice, was grabbed one round later by the Cleveland Indians with the 1,221st overall selection. The College Station native proved his 2007 FreshmanAll-America campaign was no fluke, again posting outstanding statisticsout of the two-hole. He hit safely in 11 of his first dozen games to open theseason and never looked back. Palincsar finished the campaign with a .350 batting averageand .459 on-base percentage, ranked second on the team with 62 runsscored (No. 4 UTSA history) and 42 walks and also stroked 14doubles, a triple and eight homers to go along with 52 RBIs. He teamed with junior center fielder MichaelRockett and senior first baseman Trent Lockwood, the Roadrunners' 2-3-4 hitters, for 48 percent (199) of the team's school-record 419 RBIs this year. Palincsar was a.321 hitter with eight doubles, a triple, five long balls and 25 RBIsin league action. He also drew 23 base on balls and reached base44 percent of the time.
Their selections pushed the program's all-time total to 18 and 10 ofthose have come under the guidance of eighth-year head coach ShermanCorbett. It also marked the third time in the last four years that at least two Roadrunners have been picked.