SEACAUCUS, N.J. – Senior pitcher Brett Holland of The University of Texas at Tyler baseball team was selected in the 49th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Thursday by the San Diego Padres.

Holland’s selection marks the third-straight year that a UT Tyler player has been taken in the MLB draft. Brett Amyx and Nate Jennings were drafted by Kansas City and Toronto, respectively, in 2007, while Tim Matthews and Holland were chosen by Colorado and Oakland, respectively, in 2008.

The selection by the Padres serves as an exclamation point to what was a remarkable 2009 season for Holland.

The Lindale-native went 9-5 with one save, a 3.24 ERA and 114 strikeouts on the year. His 114 strikeouts were the third most in all of Division III.

Holland garnered several awards for his work during the 2009 season including American Southwest Conference East Division Pitcher of the Year, National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association West Region Pitcher of the Year, CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America second team honors and D3baseball.com All-America honorable mention.

Holland will end his four-year career as Patriot with a 27-5 record and a lifetime ERA of 3.07. He will go down in the UT Tyler record books as the Patriots’ all-time strikeout leader with 284.