Future is promising for Herd Baseball players Peralta and Shapiro

Elvis+Peralta+Jr.

Sydney Shelton

Elvis Peralta Jr.

Two of Marshall’s baseball players were drafted on the third day of the 2019 MLB Draft: redshirt-junior shortstop Elvis Peralta, Jr. and senior left-handed starting pitcher Joshua Shapiro.  

Peralta, who signed with the Oakland A’s, was selected in the 26th round as the 794th pick. Shapiro was selected in the 34th round as the 1,033 pick by the Brewers. 

Peralta led the team in 80 hits this season which tied for third most in a single season for program history. He had 42 RBI’s, which is the second most for Marshall this season. Peralta was a part of 38 double plays. 

He currently sits at 10th for batting average at .357 for a career in program history. In C-USA, he was designated first-team all-conference and was named to the all-tournament team during the conference tournament. 

Shapiro had a 3.61 earned run average in a team-leading 84.2 innings pitched this season with 80 strikeouts. 

He recorded five wins in his 14 starts this season and had a career-high against Louisiana Tech April 18, striking out 12 batters while only allowing three hits in a no-decision team-win. 

He ended his career at Marshall with 233 strikeouts, which is the third most in program history. He pitched in 270 innings, the fourth most in a career in program history. 

He started 43 games, which is fifth most in program history, and had 14 wins, making him tied for ninth in program history. 

In C-USA he was named second-team all-conference and was a member of the conference’s all-academic team. 

There were two Marshall signees to be drafted, Zane Zurbrugg and Ryan Leitch. 

Leitch is a catcher from Ontario, Canada who played high school baseball at Sinclair Secondary School. Zurbrugg is a junior-college transfer from Shoreline Community College and will be a junior in eligibility next season. 

Sydney Shelton can be contacted at [email protected].