Eastern Kentucky University Athletics

Friedrich became the first EKU baseball player ever to be drafted in the first round of the MLB Draft when he was taken as the 25th overall pick earlier this month. The southpaw from Evanston, Ill. was recently named a second-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball and the 2008 OVC Pitcher of the Year after a dominating junior campaign in which he ranked second in the nation in ERA (1.43) and hits allowed per nine innings (4.41). He was also eighth in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (11.9).