Former Catholic High School Players Picked in Baseball Draft

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Four former baseball players at Catholic high schools in the archdiocese were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft on June 9-11.

Stephen Alemais was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third round. The shortstop, who played for three years at All Hallows High School in the Bronx, hit .311 with 14 doubles, 37 runs scored and 28 RBI in his junior season at Tulane University this spring.

The Seattle Mariners picked Matt Festa, a graduate of St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School on Staten Island, in the seventh round. Festa was a finalist for the 2016 NCAA Division II Pitcher of the Year after setting single-season school records with 11 wins, 105 strikeouts and nine complete games in his senior year at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania.

Matt Diorio was selected by the Pirates in the 16th round. The graduate of Moore Catholic High School on Staten Island finished his junior year at the University of Central Florida with a .279 batting average, three home runs and 22 RBI despite missing 23 games with an injury.

James Reilly, who graduated this month from Albertus Magnus High School in Bardonia, was selected by the Mariners in the 38th round. Reilly, who has signed to play at James Madison University in Virginia, threw a 10-0 shutout over Ardsley in the Section 1 Class B playoffs. In 2015, he was 8-1 with a 1.58 earned run average and earned most valuable player honors in the Section 1 playoffs.