By MONTE DUTTON

Two Presbyterian College baseball players had magnificent springs.

Unsurprisingly, the big leagues took notice.

Presbyterian College’s fire-balling ace, Daniel Eagen, was selected on Monday in the third round of the MLB draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Eagen was the 102th overall pick, making him the highest-ever draft pick out of PC.

Ryan Kane was picked 144th in the 1995 draft by the California Angels.

Eagen, from Fuquay-Varina, N.C, was Presbyterian’s first baseball draftee since Bud Jeter was drafted by the Diamondbacks in 2013.
Eagen’s breakout season was his third at PC after seeing 16 appearances during his freshman year and struggling with injuries as a sophomore.

During his 2024 junior season, Eagan started in 14 games and pitched a total of 77-2/3 innings. His 2.67 earned-run average led the Big South Conference and was 11th nationally. Eagen (6-2) set a new all-time record for PC with 122 strikeouts, leading the conference.

The Blue Hose won the conference regular-season crown for the first time before bowing out of the tournament with a record of 29-27.

Then the rangy center fielder, Joel Dragoo, came up in the seventh round as the choice of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Dragoo, from Beckville, Texas, was the 222nd pick in this year’s MLB Draft.

Dragoo established himself as one of the nation’s top batters. He set the program’s Division I single-season record with 18 home runs and 67 RBI.

His outstanding performance earned him the title of Big South Player of the Year, leading the league with a .401 batting average, .797 slugging percentage, and .508 on-base percentage.

During his three years with Presbyterian, Dragoo batted.303 and belted 28 home runs.

Ryan Blaney’s NASCAR victory at Pocono on Sunday reminded me a bit of the Silver Fox.

Blaney patiently watched all the chaps play, then found the front and motored away.

The rules have changed in about every way except numbers on the side (and they’ve moved forward), but that race had a David Pearson look about it.

Ninety-one more checkered flags and Blaney will be right there with him.

The world doesn’t have enough women named Mavis anymore. This observation stems from seeing on TV a stock car sponsored by Mavis Tire.

The popularity of names rises and falls. I bet there are more Natashas than Mavises.

All we have to change is change itself.

Get in the back, Jack. Make a new plan, Stan. Get on the bus, Gus. No need to discuss much. Just drop off the key, Lee, and listen to me.

The only reason to watch a political convention this year is the grandiose roll call, in which various bigwigs in various dialects extol their state’s virtues while delivering the goodies.

It’s a better background for writing than Days of Our Lives.

Today’s Accuracy in Advertising Award goes to Impossible Foods because Impossible Nuggets are impossible. Nuggets themselves are barely possible.

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