June 6, 2012

MILWAUKEE - Senior Paul Hoenecke of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team has been selected in the 24th round of the Major League Baseball Draft today by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Hoenecke, who capped his collegiate career with First-Team All-Horizon League Utility honors this past spring, becomes the third Panther to be selected in the 2012 MLB Draft when he was taken with the 746th pick overall. It also marks the second time he has been drafted, as he was also selected by the Detroit Tigers out of high school before coming to play at Milwaukee.

"It feels pretty good," Hoenecke said. "It was a lot of hard work that went into it and it's rewarding to get this after four years of being involved with the Milwaukee baseball program. It feels really good and I owe a lot of thanks to (UWM coaches) Scott (Doffek), Cory (Bigler) and Mike (Goetz) and everyone who has helped me along the way - it wouldn't have happened without them."

On the field, he became just the eighth player to record over 200 hits in a UWM career and finished fifth all-time with 242. In addition to that mark, he set the program record with 803 career at bats and ended up second in games played with 211, second in doubles with 63, sixth in runs with 135, sixth in RBI with 133 and fifth in total bases with 349.

"Paul has been through a lot in his career here," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "He got drafted by the Tigers out of high school and he believed in UWM and decided to come here. He spent four years here and worked really hard. It wasn't always easy for him, but he was a great teammate and an excellent student and now he is going to get that opportunity he's worked so hard for. I couldn't be happier for anyone."

Hoenecke was a student-athlete who excelled both on the field and in the classroom. For his work in the classroom, he earned a pair of Horizon Academic All-League honors and was selected as a member of the Capital One Academic All-District Baseball Team as a junior.

"The four years never go how you expect them to," Hoenecke said. "There are bumps along the way and that makes it even better at the end."

In 211 career games, he recorded a .301 average and was named First-Team All-Horizon League as a sophomore and to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team as a freshman. He has also been named league player of the week on three occasions over his career, showing off his versatility by appearing in games at first base, second base, third base, designated hitter, and catcher.

"Having three of our players get drafted is exciting and a great shot for our program and the league," Doffek said. "But, we're just really happy for those guys individually. Now we have to get out on the recruiting trail and find some more players that will have to fill some big shoes."