Ace Hunt

GoSycamores.com

Indiana State junior Hunter Owen continued a long tradition of excellence for the Sycamore Baseball program as he was selected in the 25th round of the Major League Baseball Draft today (June 11) by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Owen was the 765th player overall selected in the 2016 draft.

Owen is the 124th Sycamore to be selected all-time in the MLB Draft dating back to the program's first-ever selection in 1905. Of the all-time selections that have been documented, Owen is the first Sycamore to ever be selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Hunter Owen was one of five Sycamores honored in the postseason by the Missouri Valley Conference as he was named a First Team All-MVC Outfielder by a vote of the league's head coaches. He was twice selected as the MVC Player Of The Week during the 2016 campaign.

He led the Sycamores and the entire Missouri Valley Conference with a .350 batting average with six home runs and 47 RBI. Owen added 20 doubles (fifth in the league) and a triple as he earned a start in all 56 games. He boasted a team-best .567 slugging percentage with four sacrifice flies and was a perfect 5-of-5 on his stolen base attempts.

Owen's 79 total hits finished second in the MVC while his 53 runs scored was fifth. He tallied 119 total bases on the season which was fifth in the league. On May 11, Owen recorded a career-best six base hits at Ball State to become the only player in the league to record that many hits in one game during the 2016 campaign.

The Sycamores recorded a 35-21 overall record this past season as well as a 13-8 mark in MVC contests. Indiana State finished second in the regular season before defeating Wichita State in the 2016 MVC Baseball Championship, which was hosted at Bob Warn Field. Owen was a member of two Sycamore squads which played the conference tournament on their home field.