By John Leggett

Two former White River High baseball players – Jason Erickson of Bonney Lake and A.J. Huttenlocker of Buckley – were drafted Thursday during Major League Baseball’s first-year player draft.

Erickson was one of four University of Washington baseball players chosen. A senior right-hander, he was picked in the 24th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In 2006, Erickson was drafted out of high school by the Cincinnati Reds in the 45th round.

This season, Erickson went 5-4 with a 4.34 earned run average for the Huskies. He pitched in 14 games, starting 11, and earned all-Pac-10 honorable mention.

“He was a big part of winning the 2002 and 2005 league championships for us,” White River coach Mike Williams said. “I’ve been watching him develop at the UW.”

Huttenlocker, a 6-foot-3, left-handed pitcher at Missouri Western University, was drafted in the 44th round by the Oakland Athletics. He is the first MWU player drafted since 1975.

“I was happy to see him get drafted,” said Williams, who also coached Huttenlocker. “He was a skinny southpaw with an excellent curve ball and a real nice kid.”

In his last campaign with the Griffons of MWU, the lefty slinger posted an 11-3 record with a 3.35 earned-run average.

Huttenlocker tossed eight complete games and averaged 9.38 strikeouts per nine innings. He fanned a career-high 14 batters against Pittsburgh State’s Gorillas.

He was also named to the all-Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association first team and was on the second team of the Daktronics all-South Central Region squad.

While playing at Edmonds Community College, he was drafted in the 35th round by the Oakland A’s in 2006.

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