Greensboro, NC (06/05/00) -- Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Devil Rays selected Guilford College senior right-hander Chad Coward (Siler City, NC/Jordan-Matthews) with in the 14th round of the 2000 First-Year Player Draft, the team announced Monday.  He signed with the Devil Rays two days later and begins his professional career with the Princeton Devil Rays of the Appalachian League.

Coward is Guilford's first professional baseball draft pick since Tony Womack '92, now of the Arizona Diamondbacks, went to Pittsburgh in the seventh round of the 1991 draft. 

"It's pretty overwhelming," Coward said from his Siler City home Monday afternoon. "I was sitting by the phone all day waiting for it to ring. It was pretty nerve-wracking."

Coward's call finally came at approximately 4:55 p.m. Monday from Jonathan Bonifay, the Devil Rays' area scouting supervisor. Bonifay, who played baseball at Wake Forest under Guilford head coach Gene Baker in 1997, said Tampa Bay may consider Coward in a closer's role with the Renegades.

"I hope to play well and move up in the organization as quickly as I can," Coward said.

Coward graduated from Guilford in May after an exceptional career with the Quakers' baseball team. He enjoyed his best season as a senior, compiling a 9-3 record with a career-low 1.73 earned run average, which ranked among the national leaders. He earned second team Rawlings/American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-South honors and first team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) recognition. Coward tossed Guilford's first no-hitter since 1972, an 11-strikeout gem in the Quakers' 1-0 win over league rival Eastern Mennonite March 18. He received the Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball News National Pitcher of the Week Award as well as the ODAC Player of the Week prize for his performance.

Coward leaves Guilford ranked fourth in career victories with a 23-20 record and a 3.70 earned run average. He became the third Guilford hurler to reach 300 career strikeouts and fanned 107 batters as a senior to finish with 319 career strikeouts. A 2000 recipient of Guilford's Nereus C. English Athletic Leadership and the Best Senior Athlete awards, Coward set school records for single-season complete games (10), shutouts (5) and strikeouts per nine innings average (11.60). He also holds career standards for complete games (24) and strikeouts per nine innings average (10.01).