July 30, 2007

Erie, Pa. - David Lough and Brian Espersen, former Mercyhurst College baseball standouts and 2007 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft selections, are enjoying success in their first summers at the professional level.

Lough, an 11th-round selection of the Kansas City Royals, and Espersen, an 18th-round pick of the Houston Astros, are the ninth and tenth players in Mercyhurst history and the first since 2000 to be drafted.

Lough, an outfielder for the Burlington Royals of the rookie-level Appalachian League, is leading the team in hitting with a .327 batting average. In 15 games, Lough is 15-for-32 with 11 runs scored, four doubles, one homerun, seven RBIs and is 2-for-2 in stolen base attempts.

In his professional debut on June 19, Lough went 1-for-5 and scored three times, sparking an 11-7 victory over Danville. The next day, he went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Lough, however, missed the team's next 20 games, but in his return on July 15, he led the Royals to an 8-2 win over Johnson City with a 3-for-4, two-RBI performance.

Since his return, Lough has appeared in 13-straight games and has recorded at least one hit in eight. At Mercyhurst in 2007, Lough batted .404 and led the team in 12 offensive categories, en route to being named All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) First Team and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Third Team All-America.

Espersen, an 18th-round selection of the Houston Astros, has pitched in seven games for the Tri-City ValleyCats of the class A-short season, New York-Penn League. After making four successful starts to open the season, Esperson has made three relief appearances.

Despite a 0-2 record, Espersen has totaled 14 strikeouts in 13.2 innings. He struck out three and allowed no hits through two innings in his first career start on June 23.

Espersen also threw three innings of no-hit baseball against Vermont on July 4. In his last three appearances, Espersen has surrendered one run in six innings of work.

As a Laker in 2007, Espersen posted a 5-4 mark and a 3.15 ERA and was named to the All-GLIAC Second Team and was a Daktronics All-North Central Region selection.

Lough and Espersen were integral in Mercyhurst posting a 32-20 (17-11 GLIAC) record in 2007. The Lakers also reached the conference playoffs for the second-straight season.