June 8, 2011

SPOKANE, Wash. - Tyler Chism became the fourth Gonzaga University player to be selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft Wednesday. On the final day of the draft, Chism was picked by the Kansas City Royals in the 43rd round, 1,296 overall. Gonzaga signee Kevin Moriarty was also drafted, taken in the 47th round by the defending American League champion Texas Rangers as the 1,434th pick.

An All-West Coast Conference selection, Chism started all 52 games in right field this past season and owned a .313 batting average with 10 doubles, a triple, five home runs and 27 RBI. He also led the ballclub with a .378 average in WCC play. He hit for the cycle at the University of the Pacific March 12 and late in the season he posted the team's longest hitting streak of 14 games.

Moriarty, a right-handed pitcher out of Shorewood High School in Shoreline, Wash., signed a national letter-of-intent with Gonzaga this past fall. He recently helped Shorewood High finish second in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association's 3A State tournament this past spring. At the time of his signing with Gonzaga he was rated the third best right-handed pitcher in the state of Washington by Baseball Northwest.