Creighton's Pat Venditte, the ambidextrous pitcher whom I wrote about here, has been chosen by the New York Yankees in the 20th round of the amateur draft. Venditte was chosen by the Yankees in the 45th round last year, but chose to come back to Creighton for his senior year. Here's some more information on Pat.
Venditte, who was also drafted by the Yankees last June (45th round, number 1,391 overall), went 9-3 with seven saves and a 3.34 ERA in 86.1 innings of work in 2008. Venditte also led the MVC with 101 strikeouts and 37 appearances, the latter which ranks tied for third-most nationally. Venditte finished his career ranked in the top-10 in school history in appearances (110, second), ERA (2.86, fourth), winning percentage (.724, fifth), wins (21, tie-fifth), strikeouts (255, sixth), saves (13, tied-eighth) and innings pitched (248.1, 10th).
Venditte is a two-time first-team all-MVC reliever who earned a slew of national awards and attention while at Creighton. During his junior (2007) season, Venditte was named a second-team All-American by Baseball America and Rivals.com, and third-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball. He was named Most Outstanding Player of the State Farm MVC Tournament, owned a 43.2 scoreless inning streak, and tied a Valley record with 38 appearances. This past season (2008), Venditte was a preseason All-American by Collegiate Baseball, Ping! Baseball and the National College Baseball Writers Association while also being named a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award. Venditte, a rare ambidextrous pitcher, struck out batters with both arms in the same game an incredible 39 different times in his career.