It’s been a long time, but the Baltimore Orioles have reopened their pitching pipeline to LSU.
The Orioles selected Tigers right-hander Kevin Gausman with the fourth overall pick Monday of the 2012 Major League Baseball draft.
Gausman is the highest-drafted LSU player since Ben McDonald went with the No. 1 overall pick to the Orioles in 1989 and is the second highest-drafted LSU player ever.
A draft-eligible sophomore (Gausman turned 21 in January) from Centennial, Colo., the 6-foot-4 Gausman has been the Tigers’ ace this season. He is 11-1 with a 2.72 ERA and 128 strikeouts in 115.2 innings pitched.
With former LSU center fielder Mikie Mahtook going in the first round last year to the Tampa Bay Rays, this marks the first time in program history that the Tigers have had first-round picks in back-to-back years.
Gausman is the 15th first-round pick for LSU since 1965.
