Pair of Former Cougars Selected in 2021 MLB Draft
PHOENIX ---
The South Mountain Community College baseball team had a pair of former Cougars selected in the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft, which was held July 11-13. The Minnesota Twins selected Cade Povich, a left-handed pitcher who played for SMCC in 2019, in the third round with the 98th overall pick, and the Los Angeles Dodgers selected Ronan Kopp, a left-handed pitcher who played for SMCC in 2021, in the 12th round with the 372nd pick.
In his one season with the Cougars, Povich finished 10-1 with a 1.58 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 79.2 innings of work. He then transferred to the University of Nebraska, where he finished with a 6-1 record and a 3.11 ERA and 88 strikeouts in 15 starts and 81 innings of work in the 2021 campaign. He earned First Team All-Big Ten honors after the season and helped lead the Cornhuskers at the Fayetteville regional in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Povich also made four starts in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season for Nebraska.
Kopp, a 6-7 freshman from Scottsdale, made six starts and appeared in 10 games in 2021, posting a save, 38 strikeouts and a 2.84 ERA in 25.1 innings of work. He tossed the final three innings of a 4-2 win over Mesa CC and posted 4 K's to earn the save. He fanned eight batters in four innings of work in a road win at Glendale CC and had two games with seven strikeouts. As a prep at Scottsdale Christian Academy, Kopp was named the Arizona Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year and earned 2019 first team all-region and 2A Player of the Year honors.
In 2021, SMCC finished 32-16 overall and 25-13 in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference to finish fourth in the Division I standings.
SMCC opened the season with 27-straight games on the road, finishing 19-8 overall and 13-7 in conference games during the stretch. Once at home, the Cougars defended their field successfully and went 12-4 against conference foes. SMCC posted a season-best six-game winning streak in February and early March and also had a pair of five-game winning streaks. The Cougars finished 11-4 in one-run games, including a doubleheader sweep of Pima CC (3-2, 10-9) in the home finale on May 1. They were also 5-0 in games decided by two runs.