Taylor University pitching ace and 2022 Fremont High School graduate Gabel Pentecost was picked in the sixth round of the 2025 Major League Baseball Draft by the Houston Astros Monday afternoon.

Pentecost, the son of Eric and Laura Pentecost, was the 186th pick and the first NAIA college player taken in this year’s draft.

Gabel Pentecost, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound right-hander, made himself a draft possibility with a fastball that reaches the mid-90s.

Pentecost set single-season Trojan records in wins (12) and strikeouts (116) in his junior season of 2025 on his way to being named Crossroads League Pitcher of the Year for the second time. He went 12-2 with a 3.04 earned run average, a 1.05 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) and only 21 walks in 80 innings pitched.

In three seasons at Taylor, Pentecost is 26-9 with a 3.38 ERA and four saves. In 226 and one-third innings, he allowed 206 hits, struck out 276, walked 70 and has a 1.22 WHIP. He ranks second at Taylor in career strikeouts, third in career wins and seventh in career innings pitched.

Pentecost is the fourth Taylor University baseball player to be drafted and the first since Josh DeGraaf in 2015. DeGraaf was picked in the 31st round by the Toronto Blue Jays.

This is the second straight year an area baseball player has been drafted.

Last year, two former area standouts were drafted, Wright State pitcher and Carroll High School grad Jake Shirk in the 18th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates and Indiana University pitcher and East Noble graduate Brayden Risedorph in the 20th round by the Chicago Cubs.

Risedorph and Shirk are both relief pitchers who have both moved up quickly from low-Class A to High-A in their respective organizations this season.

Risedorph has four saves and only allowed one earned run in the Cubs’ system this season. He has not allowed a run in 10 and two-thirds innings pitching for the South Bend Cubs. He is currently on the 7-day Injured List.

Shirk had six saves in Low-A Bradenton, then pitched in two combined perfect games in the past month for High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers. He is 2-0 in Greensboro with a 1.13 ERA. He has appeared in six games, pitched eight innings and allowed two hits while striking out eight.

Pentecost is the second Fremont High School baseball draftee and the first Steuben County product to be drafted since Ball State catcher and Angola graduate Zach Dygert was drafted twice in 2009 and 2010.

The first FHS baseball player drafted was Travis Gaerte in 1995 by the Pirates in the 14th round.

Pentecost was not the only player in the tri-state region to be drafted by the Astros on Monday. The Astros took Bowling Green pitcher-outfielder DJ Newman of Archbold, Ohio, in the 15th round.

Pentecost and Newman will have until 5 p.m. on July 28 to sign with the Astros. If not, they will choose to return to college for their senior seasons and get the chance to be drafted again.