June 6, 2006

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - With the 194th selection in the 2006 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, the New York Yankees selected Purdue shortstop Mitch Hilligoss, making the junior the 42nd Boilermaker selected in the history of the draft.

Hilligoss is a two-time first-team All-Big Ten shortstop, the first two-time all-conference honoree at Purdue since Jermaine Allensworth in 1992 and 1993.

In 2006, Hilligoss led the Boilermakers with a .386 batting average while scoring a program-record 62 runs. He led the team with a .579 slugging percentage and a .453 on-base percentage.

As a sophomore, Hilligoss was a third-team All-America honoree and led the Big Ten Conference with a .404 batting average.

A native of Windsor, Ill., Hilligoss is the career batting leader, hitting .378 in 606 career at-bats (229 hits), 25 points higher than any other Boilermaker with a minimum of 400 career at-bats during the program's 119-year history.

The MLB First-Year Player Draft began in 1965. Since the draft's inception, Hilligoss is the sixth Purdue shortstop selected. The first five are: Del Wilbur, 1965, Philadelphia; Rick Thompson, 1982, Houston; Elam 'Rico' Rossy, 1985, Baltimore; Archi Cianfrocco, 1987, Montreal; and Phil Hollis, 1991, Atlanta.

Hilligoss is the ninth player selected during the tenure of head coach Doug Schreiber, and the first Boilermaker to be selected by the New York Yankees since the inception of the draft.

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Purdue Boilermakers