June 4- Seventeen West Coast Conference baseball players were selected in the 2003 Major League Baseball Amateur Player Draft that took place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Portland's Kory Casto was the first WCC player selected, while Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount, and Santa Clara each had four players drafted.

17 WCC Baseball Players Chosen in 2003 Draft
Portland’s Kory Casto Picked in 3rd Round by the Montreal Expos

San Bruno, CA- Seventeen West Coast Conference baseball players were selected in the 2003 Major League Baseball Amateur Player Draft that took place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Portland outfielder Kory Casto, a second team All-WCC selection in 2003, was the first WCC player selected when the Montreal Expos chose him with the 87th overall pick in the third round of the draft. Casto batted .338 for the Pilots with 14 homeruns and a .446 on-base percentage in 2003. He was among the WCC leaders in seven batting categories this season. It was the highest that a Portland player has been drafted since Ken Dayley was chosen by the Atlanta Braves in the first round of the 1982 draft.

Casto was followed by Loyola Marymount pitcher Joshua Muecke, who was selected as the 149th overall pick in the drafts’ fifth round by the Houston Astros. Muecke was one of four Lions drafted, along with outfielder Josh Whitesell (#177, sixth round) who was taken by the Expos, pitcher Vincent Cordova (#259, ninth round), who was taken by the New York Mets, and pitcher Ryan Yurek (#719, 24th round), who was also drafted by the Astros. Whitesell was one of three WCC players to be selected in the sixth round, along with Pepperdine’s Chris Kelly (#172), who went to the Chicago White Sox, and Gonzaga’s Errol Simonitsch (#178), who was drafted by the Minnesota Twins. The selection of Kelly marked the 12th straight year that a Pepperdine player had been selected in the draft. Simonitsch was one of four Zags taken, alongside second baseman Eric Rodland who was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the ninth round (#250 overall), first-team All-WCC selection Gordon Corder who was taken by the Oakland Athletics in the 20th round (#602 overall), and outfielder Jeff Culpepper who was drafted in the 39th round (#1164 overall) by the Boston Red Sox.

Nick Conte became the first Saint Mary’s catcher to be drafted since 1992 when the San Francisco Giants chose him in the 13th round (#393 overall). Pitcher Joe Diefenderfer, a unanimous first team All-WCC selection, was the first of four Santa Clara Players to be drafted when the Philadelphia Phillies took him in the 19th round (#565 overall). Scott Dierks, the WCC Co-Player of the Year for 2003, was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 24th round (#713 overall), while Bronco pitcher Matt Travis was selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 32nd round (#938 overall), and catcher Jim Wallace was taken by the New York Mets in the 36th round (#1069 overall). Pepperdine’s Greg Ramirez, the WCC Pitcher of the Year, was drafted by the New York Mets in the 22nd round (#649 overall), and San Diego’s Tom Caple rounded out the WCC draft choices when he was picked by the Boston Red Sox in the 44th round (#1310 overall).