Sept. 28, 2005
TUCSON, Ariz. - UCF is ranked No. 37 in the annual Collegiate Baseball magazine poll of the nation's top recruiting classes. South Carolina is No. 1 in the rankings, followed by Arizona State, Texas, Vanderbilt and LSU. The national ranking is the first-ever for the Golden Knights in the top 40 Collegiate Baseball poll.
For the first time under head coach Jay Bergman, the Golden Knights have an entire recruiting class of incoming freshmen without any junior college or four-year college transfers. The 15-player class features five student-athletes who were selected in the 2005 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
"This is our best recruiting class since 1993," stated Bergman. "Coach Cozart did a terrific job of landing a group of talented student-athletes who fit our needs. The move to Conference USA was also a significant factor in landing such a strong recruiting class."
Three C-USA schools made the top 40, led by Tulane (13), Rice (29) and UCF (37).
Craig Cozart, the team's recruiting coordinator, was part of the 1993 recruiting class Bergman mentioned. "We had quite a few needs to fill, starting with position players. Our main objective was to sign the best position players we could while also adding a couple of talented pitchers and I feel we accomplished that," added Cozart. "Our first signing class will carry us into Conference USA," stated Cozart. "These players should come in right away and contribute and hopefully will take us to the level to compete each year for the Conference USA Championship."
For the first time in school history, UCF has five freshmen from its recruiting class who were drafted following their senior year of high school. Outfielder David DiNatale (Parkland, Fla./Douglas) was drafted in the 22nd round by the Pittsburgh Pirates, first baseman Kiko Vazquez (Sebring, Fla./Sebring) went in the 30th round to the Minnesota Twins, right-handed pitcher Kyle Sweat (Apopka, Fla./Apopka) was a 42nd round selection of the Pittsburgh Pirates, outfielder Chadd Hartman (Windermere, Fla./Olympia) was a 43rd round pick of the Cleveland Indians and left-handed pitcher Mitch Houck (Weston, Fla./Cypress Bay) was picked in the 50th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
UCF opens fall practice for the 2006 season Monday, Oct. 17. The Golden Knights begin the regular season Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006 at Florida International.