WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – Five members of the UNCW baseball team have been drafted in the first two days of the 2025 Major League Baseball draft.
Pitcher Zane Taylor was picked in the fifth round by the Oakland Athletics. The senior righthander from Franklinton, North Carolina was named Pitcher of the Year in the Coastal Athletic Association after going 11-2 for Head Coach Randy Wood’s Seahawks. According to UNCW statistics, Taylor finished tied for the most starts in a career with 57, and tied for second with 27 career wins.
Three rounds later, the Colorado Rockies used the 227th pick to select junior first baseman Tanner Thach. The Belvidere, North Carolina native was a First-Team All-CAA selection in 2025 who started all 58 games for the Seahawks at first base. Thach led UNCW with 12 home runs and was second with 46 runs-batted-in in his junior season.
A trio of Seahawks went in the 13th round. The Athletics picked Taylor’s battery-mate, catcher Bryan Arendt, with pick #380. Two picks later, the Toronto Blue Jays selected UNCW pitcher Trace Baker. The Houston Astros took pitcher Aubrey Smith with pick #396.
Smith, a redshirt sophomore from Leland who played at South Brunswick High School, made 21 relief appearances for the Seahawks, finishing with a career-high 44 strikeouts in 52.1 innings. Arendt made 39 starts at catcher in his senior season. He hit a career-high .279 with seven home runs and 33 runs batted in. Baker, a junior righthander from Winterville, was a First-Team All-CAA reliever, ending with a 4-1 record with five saves and a 2.24 earned run average.
UNCW’s 2025 squad finished 34-24, losing 9-6 to Northeastern in the CAA Tournament Championship game.
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