June 6, 2008

ATHENS, Ohio-Ohio's Matt Stiffler (Bellbrook, Ohio) was selected with the 809^th overall pick by the Cincinnati Reds Friday in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. He became the 38^th player to be drafted since head coach Joe Carbone took over the program in 1989.

Stiffler had a phenomenal final season with the Bobcats on his way to first-team All-MAC honors. The centerfielder finished first in the Mid-American Conference in hits (91), runs scored (75) and total bases (172), second in home runs (18), triples (6) and slugging percentage (.669) and third in RBI (58).

His 91 hits tied Ben Crabtree (2003) for the single-season school record, while his 18 home runs on the year were the second-most in school history. The runs scored (first), total bases (first) and RBI marks (fourth) all ranked in the top five in school history as well.

The Bellbrook, Ohio, native also assaulted the Ohio career record book during his final season. He finished first in career triples (16), third in runs scored (178), fifth in total bases (378) and doubles (44-tied) and sixth in hits (230).

Pitchers Anthony Gressick (26^th round-Cincinnati) and Derek Witt (28th-Detroit) were the last Bobcat players drafted following the 2006 campaign.