By Al Stilley
Editor
 
Three Southside baseball players were drafted by major league baseball teams last week.

Former Roncalli pitcher Michael McAvene of the University of Louisville was drafted by the Chicago Cubs. McAvene is a former Roncalli standout, class of 2016. He was the closer for the nationally ranked Cardinals who qualified for the NCAA super regionals. McAvene was the 103rd overall pick.

The Chicago White Sox selected Indiana University pitcher Pauly Milto, also a former Roncalli standout. He completed his college career this season with eight wins for the Hoosiers who won the Big Ten Conference championship and qualified for the NCAA tournament. Milto graduated from Roncalli in 2015.

Southport High School pitcher Avery Short was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 12th round. He wrapped up his high school career by pitching in the 4A Southport Sectional. Short is a University of Louisville signee.

Former Southport star and IHSAA single-season record-holder Cameron Perkins is in his eighth season in the minor leagues. He was signed as a free agent by the Los Angeles Dodgers and assigned to their AAA club in Oklahoma City. Perkins played last year for the Tacoma Rainiers. Perkins has a lifetime minor league batting average of .278.

Perkins played in 42 major league games with the Philadelphia Phillies.

McAvene and Milto are the second and third former Rebels, respectively, to be selected in the major league draft during the last two seasons.

In 2018, former Rebel and Indiana Mr. Baseball Nick Schnell was chosen in the first round (32nd pick overall) by the Tampa Bay Rays.

At the time, the Roncalli slugger was only the 15th Indiana high school player to be selected directly out of high school in the first round of the draft.  He spent his first professional season playing for the Gulf Coast Rays of the Gulf Coast League and is set to begin his second professional season later this month.
 
CG star bows out
 
Mr. Basketball Trayce Jackson-Davis, a four-year standout at Center Grove, finished his schoolboy career Saturday night by helping the Indiana All-Stars sweep Kentucky, 120-74, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
The 6-9 Indiana University signee scored a team-high 17 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots.
The 46-point winning margin was the second-largest margin in series history.
He scored 16 points Friday against the Kentucky All-Stars, 97-64, in Louisville.
This is the first time that the victory margin in both games was 30 points or more.
The Indiana All-Stars were coached by Criss Beyers, the 2018 state champion basketball coach at Warren Central. Beyers moves from the Warriors to coach at Franklin Central for the 2019-2020 season, succeeding John Rockey.
 
FC tennis duo
 
Franklin Central’s No. 1 doubles team of sophomores Brooklyn Schiffli and Carly Sobieralski had their first taste of the IHSAA girls’ tennis state finals Friday at Park Tudor High School.

The Flashes’ duo fell to Jasper’s Josie Yarbrough and Suchi Bandaru 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. The Schiffli-Sobieralski duo finished the season 12-4.

(Note: Roncalli sports information director Rob Brown contributed to this article.)