Secaucus, N.J. – Lenoir-Rhyne University's John Curtis was taken in the eighth round of the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft by the Atlanta Braves with pick No. 230 today.

Curtis, a senior from Lenoir, N.C., is the third Bears' player in as many years to be taken in the draft:  Ivan Vieitez (Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015) and Matthew De La Rosa (Baltimore Orioles in 2016).  Curtis is the sixth player in program history drafted by Major League Baseball.

"I could not be more proud of John Curtis," said Lenoir-Rhyne Head Baseball Coach Tom Fleenor.  "He put in an incredible amount of work to get this opportunity."

This season, Curtis went 2-3 with a 4.94 earned run average but struck out 71 batters in just 50 innings of work while tallying three saves.  Curtis ranked seventh in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (12.78) and threw a one-hit, 13-strikeout shutout gem against Anderson in an 8-0 victory on Saturday, February 25, in Anderson, S.C.

For his four-year collegiate career with the Bears (2014-17), Curtis totaled a 7-12 record with a 4.14 earned run average but struck out 191 batters and notched five saves.

In addition to Vieitez and De La Rosa, the Bears' Steve Davis and Michael Tidwell were taken by the Chicago Cubs in the 1991 draft after Craig Corbett was the first-ever player in a Lenoir-Rhyne uniform to get drafted.  Corbett, a 2014 Lenoir-Rhyne Sports Hall Of Fame inductee, was taken by the Montreal Expos in 1981.