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Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Four Players Selected by the MLB Draft
Four Players Selected by the MLB Draft
June 9, 2004
Boca Raton, FL - Four Florida Atlantic University baseball players were drafted by Major League Baseball. Jeff Fiorentino, Matt O'Brien , Randy Beam and Robert Orton bring the total number of FAU players to move on to professional baseball to 67.
Fiorentino became the third FAU player to be selected in the third round and joins former players Billy Brown and Tommy Murphy as the highest players selected in the draft. Fiorentino was the 79th overall pick and is expected to sign with the Baltimore Orioles this week. Fiorentino became an every day starter as a freshman and has amassed 44 home runs, 42 doubles and 168 RBI, during his three-year career. He ranks fifth in career doubles and second in career home runs in the FAU record books. This season he also assaulted single-season records and scored 83 runs, the most in school history and finished fourth in single-season home runs and third in walks.
He has played three defensive positions at Florida Atlantic: outfield, catcher and first base. His versatility has guided the team to three championship ring each of his three seasons. As a freshman in 2002, he recorded the game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth inning at Alabama to win the NCAA Regional and advance to the Super Regional where he hit a home run against Georgia Tech. His sophomore season he helped to guide the Blue Wave to a regular-season Atlantic Sun Title and was honored as First Team All-Conference and Second Team All-Region. As a junior, the Hollywood, FL native saw FAU earn a ranking as high as 10th in the nation, he again receive All-Conference recognition and saw the program win its first Atlantic Sun Tournament.
The Detroit Tigers selected right-handed pitcher Matt O'Brien in the 15th round. The senior from Royal Palm Beach has donned the Blue Wave uniform the last four years and has put together a career 3.69 ERA, a 20-6 record and has totaled 174 strikeouts in 207.1 innings of work. O'Brien earned All-Conference recognition in 2004 and finished 26th in the nation in wins.
Left-handed pitcher Randy Beam will play for the Boston Red Sox organization. Boston selected the 2003 All-American in the 18th round. In Beam's two-year career in Boca Raton he has put together a 23-6 record, a 2.08 ERA and has thrown six complete games. As a junior he finished sixth in the nation in victories and 33rd in ERA. Robert Orton was the fourth Florida Atlantic baseball player selected when the Cincinnati Reds selected the senior in the 38th round. A four-year starter for Florida Atlantic, Orton (Wellington, FL) has been a team leader behind the dish. He has called games for several All-American pitchers.
A big game hitter, he was named to the A-Sun All-Tournament as a sophomore and hit .379 in post-season play with five RBI and nine runs scored this season as FAU won its first Atlantic Sun Tournament title and advanced to its fifth NCAA Tournament in the past six seasons. Orton has been a part of an NCAA Regional Championship, a NCAA Super Regional, A-Sun Regular Season Title and A-Sun Tournament Championship.