Two former IVC baseball standouts taken in 2017 MLB Draft

Two former IVC baseball standouts taken in 2017 MLB Draft

Two former Irvine Valley baseball team standouts were drafted in the 2017 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft this week.

It is the first time in program history that two IVC players have been taken in the same draft.

Lucas Tancas, who starred for Long Beach State the past two seasons, was selected in the 26th Round by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Tancas was LBSU's primary left fielder this past season, leading the team in home runs (9) and slugging (.491) while finishing second on the squad with 37 RBI.

Tancas, a red-shirt junior, helped lead the Lasers to a 23-18 overall record and a Super Regional Playoff appearance in 2015.

He posted a team-best .340 batting average, scoring 24 runs with 16 RBI. He had 12 extra base hits with two home runs and seven stolen bases.

Tancas helped lead Long Beach State to a 42-20-1 record this season and a Super Regional appearance. Long Beach State won 40+ games for the first time 2004, won its first Big West title since 2008 and hosted its first Super Regional since 2004. The Dirtbags also had a record 11 players, plus head coach Troy Buckley, honored as All-Big West selections this season.

Tancas was a second team all-Big West selection. He had a .312 batting average through the regular season.

Right-handed pitcher Kyle Goodbrand was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 36th round of the draft.

Goodbrand helped lead the Tritons to the NCAA Division II West Region title and an NCAA Championship national runner-up showing, both for the first time since 2010.

Goodbrand, also a red-shirt junior, earned All-California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) honorable mention, and was also picked to the CCAA Championship All-Tournament Team. He was at his best in the postseason, when he went 3-0 over his three starts and added a save in his lone relief appearance, while posting an impressive 1.08 ERA, with four runs allowed, three of them earned, and 18 strikeouts in 25.0 innings pitched.

For the season, Goodbrand led the Tritons with his 2.32 ERA and an impressive .185 opponents' batting average. He went 6-0 with three saves, tied for the team lead. Ten of Goodbrand's 15 appearances were starting assignments, with 28 walks and just 48 hits against, and 52 strikeouts over 73.2 innings.

Goodbrand ranked fourth in the CCAA and 45th nationally in ERA, with his team-best 1.03 WHIP good enough for third in the league and 30th in Division II. He was second in the CCAA and 12th in the country at 5.86 hits allowed per nine innings.

Goodbrand played for Irvine Valley in 2016. He made 13 appearances for the Lasers (17-19), nine of them starts, with a 4-6 record, 5.76 ERA and 37 strikeouts over 50.0 innings.

UC San Diego went 44-19 overall in 2017, achieving the second-most wins in program history, behind only the 54 from 2010, when the Tritons won their second consecutive West Region crown.