Baseball: Gallardo, Breedlove taken in 2012 Major League Baseball Draft

One current and one former member of the Long Beach City College baseball program were selected in Day 3 of the 2012 Major League Baseball (MLB) First Year Player Draft on Wednesday. Sophomore starting pitcher Steven Gallardo (Hamilton HS) was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals and former Viking starting pitcher Lance Breedlove (Los Alamitos HS)was taken by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Gallardo was the 600^th pick taken overall in the 19^th round by the defending World Series champion Cardinals.  

"I'm very happy for Steven," said LBCC head coach Casey Crook. "He's earned this opportunity and I think he will do well. He is a good all-around athlete and is one of the fiercest competitors I have been around. If he was over six-feet tall, he might have been drafted in the top 10 rounds."

Gallardo was recently named to the 2012 All-Southern California team and was also a first-team All-South Coast Conference selection. The 2011 SCC Pitcher of the Year closed out his LBCC career on April 27 throwing a 10-inning no-hitter with 17 strikeouts in a 1-0 win over Compton.

He ended this season with a 6-4 overall record and 2.34 ERA. Gallardo ranked second in the state with 98 strikeouts over 77 innings and walked just 13 batters.

Prior to the draft, Gallardo was expected to transfer to Georgetown College (NAIA) in Georgetown, Kentucky for the upcoming fall 2012 semester but will likely forego college to sign with the Cardinals.

Breedlove just wrapped up his senior season at Purdue University and was taken in the 23^rd round with the 706^th overall pick by the Pirates.

Breedlove earned second-team All-Big 10 Conference honors and was named to the Big 10 Conference All-Tournament team after helping lead Purdue to its first conference title since 1909. He also became the first Boilermaker to be named Big 10 Pitcher of the Week three times in a season.

Breedlove closed the 2012 season with an 8-6 overall record and 3.33 ERA. He struck out 76 batters and walked just 16 over 97 1/3 innings.

"Lance is one the best stories in LBCC Baseball in the last twenty years," said Crook. "He was cut from the team twice at Los Alamitos High School. He was just too small. He persevered and made the team as a senior, although he didn't pitch a lot."

"At Golden West his first year in college, he did not pitch a lot. He transfered to LBCC and something clicked for him that year. We knew he was going to be one of our guys from the first bullpen he threw. The fact that he moved on to Purdue and got drafted says a lot about Lance as a person. He is goal oriented, a hard worker, determined and tough. I couldn't be happier for anybody than I am for Lance."

At LBCC, Breedlove earned first-team All-South Coast Conference honors as a sophomore for the Vikings in 2010. He compiled a 2-3 record with a 2.28 ERA in conference action and closed the season with a 2-4 overall record and 3.00 ERA.

Gallardo and Breedlove are the sixth and seventh LBCC Vikings under Crook since 2002 to be selected in the MLB Draft.

Other recent LBCC draft picks include:
Jonathan Keener, 2011, 32nd round, St. Louis Cardinals
Tommy Peale, 2009, 23rd round, Florida Marlins
Daniel Prieto, 2007, 23rd round, Florida Marlins
Eugene Edwards, 2005, 40th round, Seattle Mariners
Omar Bramasco, 2002, 16th round, Philadelphia Phillies

Photos by Chris Ruiz (Gallardo) and Purdue Athletics Communications (Breedlove)