Jacksonville State University

Jacksonville State’s Ben Tootle was selected as the 101st overall pick in the 2009 Major League Baseball first-year player draft by the Minnesota Twins during the third round on Tuesday.

Tootle becomes the fourth Gamecock player to be drafted in the third round or higher and the first since Bill White was taken as the 99th overall pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2000. He was the first player from an Alabama college taken in this year’s draft.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity to play for the Minnesota Twins,” Tootle said Tuesday night. “I was expecting to be picked somewhere between the first and third rounds and got picked in the third round, so I’m pretty happy with that.”

Tootle has a career 19-9 record during his three-year career for the Gamecocks and a 4.83 earned run average. The Oxford, Ala., native made 43 career starts and recorded 225 2/3 innings on the mound with 204 career strikeouts.

The hard throwing right-hander pitched for Falmouth in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League last summer, where he was selected to the All-Star team after posting a 1.97 earned run average in 22 appearances.

He becomes the fourth player drafted over the last three years for Jacksonville State head coach Jim Case.