BOSTON – Three #AEBASE All-Conference performers were selected in the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft over the past three days, in Luke Johnson, Nick Roselli and Jeremiah Jenkins.
This marked the second consecutive year that three former America East standouts were drafted and the second straight year one was a Maine Black Bear.
Two-time #AEBASE Pitcher of the Year Luke Johnson of UMBC was the first to be selected as he was taken in the 10th round and 290th pick overall by the Washington Nationals. He is the first Retriever to be drafted since Kevin Lachance in 2016 (Los Angeles Dodgers, 10th Round, 311 Overall). He concluded his impressive career with a 17-10 record over 54 starts. Johnson finished with 279 career strikeouts in 288.2 innings with a 4.61 ERA while leading UMBC to back-to-back second place regular season finishes in 2023 and 2024.
Roselli was selected in the 11th round and 323 pick overall by the Mets. He is the first Binghamton second baseman to ever be drafted and is the school's highest position player taken in 34 years. Roselli hit .349 in three seasons with the Bearcats, including a .388 mark this spring. In his three-year Binghamton career, Roselli accumulated 153 hits and 104 RBI in 115 starts. Nearly 40 percent of those hits were for extra-bases, including 26 home runs. He was a second-team All-Conference selection in 2024 and helped the team win the 2022 America East Championship as a freshman.
Jenkins was a 14th round selection, taken with 418th overall pick by the Giants. He was the 2023 America East Player of the Year and First-Team All-Region selection in 2023 after leading Maine to an America East Title. He slashed .365/.508/.771 with 21 homers and 12 doubles that season. For his career at Maine, Jenkins finished with a .332 averaged and .675 slugging percentage with 50 home runs and 153 RBI in 148 games. He is the only player in league history with consecutive 20 home run seasons. This is the second-straight year a Black Bear has been drafted by the Giants in the MLB Draft as Quinn McDaniels was taken in the fifth round of the 2023 MLB Draft.
ABOUT AMERICA EAST
Founded in 1979, the America East Conference is an elite NCAA Division I athletic conference that fosters an environment for student-athletes to become champions. Comprised of academically renowned, like-minded member institutions located in the Northeast region of the United States, America East is committed to broad-based excellence and progressive in its approach to supporting its more than 3,500 student-athletes across 18 sponsored sports. For more information, visit www.AmericaEast.com and follow the America East Conference and its social media channels, @AmericaEast.
- America East Conference – Where Champions Rise -