When you think of collegiate baseball, your first thoughts probably don’t go out to Tennessee Tech. Nor did the Diamondbacks probably think of that university in 1996, but in the 42nd round of that year’s draft they picked up Erik Sabel, the first time in 10 years that a player from that program got drafted.
Sabel had joined the Golden Eagles in 1994 from his high school in West Lafayette, Indiana, and, after a tough first year, led his college baseball team’s rotation the next two years. Pitching on an unspectacular team for an unspectacular baseball program it was kinda hard for Sabel to stand out.