Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Kyle Zurak
A familiar name to local baseball fans is now a part of the Pulaski Yankees Appalachian League team. Former Radford University pitcher Kyle Zurak has been called up from the New York Yankees Gulf Coast rookie league affiliate.
He appeared in a total of three games between the two New York Yankees Gulf Coast League affiliates. In five innings pitched, he gave up four hits with one walk and struck out six batters.
Zurak was taken in the eighth round as the 242nd pick of the 2017 Major League Draft after an impressive senior season for Radford picking up nine saves and 73 strikeouts in 60 innings of work. He was the fourth pitcher in RU history to be taken in the MLB first year player draft.
“It’s amazing to be a New York Yankee, the greatest franchise in the world,” Zurak said at the time of the draft.
The right-hander struck out a career-high 73 batters, yielding only nine extra-base hits on the season. Zurak limited opposing batters to a .225 clip. Appearing in 11 Big South games, Zurak led the league with a 1.03 ERA and five saves. His 73 strikeouts finished sixth best in the league.
In his career, Zurak appeared in 77 games, which goes down as sixth most in program history. Totaling 117 strikeouts in 120.1 career innings, Zurak is now in sole possession of third place of most strikeouts per nine innings with an 8.77 mark. His 3.74 career ERA ranks seventh best among Radford pitchers and his 10 career saves rank eighth.
Zurak was named an All-Big South First Team selection, Big South Tournament MVP and was a Gregg Olson Award Semifinalist.
He joined Pulaski on Monday and is expected to work out of the bull pen in the final three weeks of the season.
