Baseball draft leaves Cardieri smiling

The happiest man at USF after the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft ended Wednesday had to be USF coach Eddie Cardieri. In addition to watching three Bulls get selected for the second straight year, Cardieri can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that both his recruiting and junior classes should be intact when his Bulls regroup in the fall.

In addition to Jason Bartz, who went Tuesday, senior outfielder Mike Barclay and junior left-hander Ryan Gloger were selected Wednesday. Barclay was tabbed by Boston in the 28th round with the 838th pick overall, and Gloger went to Arizona in the 46th round, No. 1,379 overall.

Barclay, a product of Countryside High School in Clearwater, is among the Bulls’ all-time leaders in 12 offensive categories.

Gloger completed his first season with USF in 2002 after spending two years at Stanford where he pitched five times. With the Bulls, Gloger went 5-4 with a 5.91 ERA entering the NCAA Regional Tournament. Against UCF in the regionals, Gloger was superb, entering the ninth with a two-hit shutout.

Following a stellar career at Jesuit High School in Tampa, Gloger became an eighth round pick of Tampa Bay. Some scouts said then that if Gloger hadn’t shown such a strong interest in college, he would have been a first or second rounder.

“The Diamondbacks took a shot at Ryan hoping he’ll get back to the form we know he has,” Cardieri said.

The Bulls manager seemed confident that Gloger would return but was more elated that he wouldn’t have to battle the Major Leagues for his incoming recruits.

“Our recruiting class held together,” Cardieri said. “It was a nice surprise. We got really lucky.”

Other than Gloger, the USF junior class went unscathed, and draft-eligible sophomore Jon Uhl also wasn’t selected.

Uhl was the Bulls’ hottest pitcher down the stretch, going 4-0 with a 1.27 ERA in May going into USF’s appearance in the regional tournament. However, Uhl’s success came to a crashing halt in Tallahassee where, in two games, he pitched 5 1/3 innings, yielding eight runs on six hits and nine walks.

“We have a nice core coming back, and Jon Uhl is an important piece of that,” Cardieri said. “And he wasn’t taken. So it’s nice knowing everyone’s going to show up (in the fall).”

Six Bulls went in the 1997 draft, the most USF has ever had. USF has had two first-round picks in the program’s history – Scott Hemond at No. 14 by Oakland in 1986 and Jason Dellaero went 15th overall to the White Sox in 1997.