Georgia College, Mercer players get calls in pro draft

Georgia College and Mercer combined to have four players chosen Wednesday on the final day of Major League Baseball's draft.

Georgia College outfielder Brandon Benson went in the 20th round to St. Louis.

Mercer infielder Danny Edgeworth and catcher Charlie Madden each went soon after in the 40-round draft, Edgeworth in the 23rd round to Colorado and Madden a round later to Boston. Boston also picked up Westfield's Cole Brannen on Monday.

Mercer pitcher Ryan Askew went in the 29th round to Tampa Bay.

Mercer had four players drafted — Jacob Tanis, Justice French, Joe Winker and Billy Burns — in 2011.

Benson was recently named to the Division II Conference Commissioners Association All-America baseball team, as well as the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association’s first team and American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings Division II All-America team.

The 6-foot, 190-pounder from Grayson hit .395 with 22 homers, 79 RBI and 74 runs as part of a consensus All-America senior season. He was the Southeast Region and Peach Belt Conference player of the year, ending his Bobcats career on a 17-game hitting streak.

He played in 47 games as a freshman and batted .338 with five homers and 36 RBI, hit .313 with six homers and 31 RBI a year later.

Benson batted .309 as a junior, but had 10 home runs and 43 RBI.

Benson is the 17th Georgia College baseball player to be drafted, the first since Richard Pirkle in 2011 and highest since Andrew Reichard went in the 13th round in 2007.

Edgeworth batted .332 for Mercer, which finished 39-17. He was tied for fourth on the team with eight homers, and was third with 46 RBI. He fielded at a .952 clip.

He was a first-team All-Southern Conference pick by the coaches and second-team choice by the media in 2017 while moving to second base in the middle of the season.

Edgeworth was the Southern Conference player of the month for February.

Madden, a CoSIDA academic All-American honoree earlier this month and June graduate, started all 56 games as a senior and had 17 home runs and 56 RBI while fielding .992 and batting .278.

He was on the Johnny Bench Watch List for catchers for the third straight year, and earned Southern Conference player of the week honors twice in 2017.

Askew's best season was as a junior when he went 6-3 with a 3.90 ERA, 101.2 innings and an opponents' batting average of .262.

He was 4-2 in 14 games with a 5.06 ERA in 83.2 innings in 2017, and departs Mercer with a 17-12 record, and 251 strikeouts and 58 walks in 376.1 innings.

Other state college players drafted on Wednesday: Georgia Tech utility player Trevor Craport by Baltimore in the 11th round, Georgia Southern pitcher Connor Simmons by Atlanta in the 13th round, Kennesaw State's Austin Upshaw by the Chicago Cubs in the 13th round, North Georgia shortstop Connor Hoover to Seattle and Logan Baldwin of Georgia Southern to San Francisco in the 21st round, and Georgia State pitcher Bryce Conley by Oakland in the 22nd round.

Also, Georgia Tech pitcher Zachary Ryan by the Los Angeles Angels in the 23rd round; Georgia Southern pitcher Jacob Condra-Bogan to Toronto in the 32nd round; pitcher Mason Ward of Kennesaw State to Pittsburgh in the 34th round; outfielder Ryan Peurifoy of Georgia Tech by Pittsburgh in the 38th round.

Nearly 60 players chosen, according to MLB.com’s draft tracker, were from Georgia or played in Georgia.

This story was originally published June 14, 2017 at 8:14 PM with the headline "Georgia College, Mercer players get calls in pro draft."