Benik, Hausmann and Tarkington Selected in Major League Baseball Draft
6/6/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 6, 2001
SOUTH ORANGE, NJ - Senior righthander B.J. Benik (Southampton, NJ/Lenape), redshirt sophomore lefty Buddy Hausmann (Colts Neck, NJ/Red Bank Catholic) and senior righty Shawn Tarkington (Peekskill, NY/Walter Panas) of the Seton Hall baseball team were picked on June 6 in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.
Benik was selected in the 23rd round by the Chicago Cubs, Hausmann in the 31st round by the New York Mets and Tarkington in the 37th round by the Minnesota Twins.
Benik, who returned for his senior season after being drafted by the Mets in 2000. He struggled at the beginning of the year before coming on strong towards the end and leading Seton Hall to the BIG EAST Tournament championship. He picked up a 4-2 victory over Rutgers in the first round of the tournament and won game one of the NCAA Regional at Clemson, SC, as the Pirates upset the top seed in the region, South Alabama, 7-2. Benik finished the year with a 5-7 record and a 4.09 earned run average in 81.1 innings pitched. He finished his career at Seton Hall with 22 career wins and is Seton Hall's all-time leader in innings pitched with 318.2 and games started with 44.
Hausmann, who redshirted in 1999, has two seasons of eligibility remaining at Seton Hall. He was 4-0 in 2001 with a 4.50 ERA, striking out 40 in 46.0 innings. The 6-4 southpaw appeared in 14 games with six starts and pitched in 21 games in his brief career.
Tarkington was Seton Hall's lone representative on the All-BIG EAST First Team, chosen as a utility player. He was primarily a pitcher and finished the season as Seton Hall's No. 2 starter. In 63 innings, he was 6-3 with a 4.57 ERA while starting 11 games. He also logged 16 at-bats, hitting three home runs and collecting seven hits for a .438 average as a designated hitter and pinch hitter.
Seton Hall finished with a 34-23-1 record this past season and advanced to the regional final at Clemson, SC, before losing to host Clemson.
Seton Hall head coach Mike Sheppard has seen 77 of his players sign professional contracts since he was named head coach in 1973. Current major leaguers who attended Seton Hall are Craig Biggio (Houston Astros), Mo Vaughn (Anaheim Angels), John Valentin (Boston Red Sox), Matt Morris (St. Louis Cardinals) and Jason Grilli (Florida Marlins).
