June 5, 2012

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss baseball signee Zachary Bird of Jackson, Miss., was chosen in the 9th round (296th pick overall) by the Los Angeles Dodgers Tuesday afternoon in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

Bird recently completed his prep career at Murrah High School in Jackson. The 6-foot-3, 177 lb., right-handed pitcher compiled a 5-4 record with 78 strikeouts in 48 innings with a 3.14 ERA this past season. He also batted .411, leading the Mustangs to the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

He was a member of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger Dandy Dozen and recently played in the Crossroads Diamond Club All-Star game at Trustmark Park in Pearl last weekend.

Bird played for coach Scott Cheek and earned Clarion-Ledger second team All-Metro honors his junior season and was a Perfect Game Honorable Mention Underclassmen High School All-American. He earned four varsity letters from his time at Murrah High.

Bird was the second Golden Eagle signee taken during the day. Outfielder Anthony Alford, both a football and baseball signee, was taken in the third round (112th pick) by the Toronto Blue Jays.