Fairfield University Baseball standouts Trey McLoughlin ’21 and Justin Guerrera ’22 were both selected by the New York Mets earlier in the 2021 MLB Collegiate Draft. The duo are the 19th and 20th Stags, respectively, ever to be chosen in an MLB draft.

The hard throwing right-handed pitcher McLoughlin was tabbed by the Mets in the 16th round. He missed most of the 2021 season due to injury, but returned to make a key start in the MAAC Championship, firing 6.1 innings of one-run ball with 11 strikeouts to win an elimination game over Canisius. McLoughlin also took the ball in the Stags’ NCAA Championship opener against Arizona State, striking out three Sun Devils over 6.1 frames in a no-decision. He graduated from Fairfield this past May with a degree in management from the Charles F. Dolan School of Business.

"It's an incredible achievement to be drafted by the New York Mets. It's been a difficult past year for me, especially with the pandemic and our [2020] season getting canceled, to finally get back to normal this year only to miss a few weeks with an injury,” said McLoughlin. “I've had to face quite a bit of adversity over my four years at Fairfield but I've managed to find a way past it all. I'm unbelievably excited to begin my pro career."

McLoughlin is spending his summer at the prestigious Cape Cod Summer League where he started his season with 11 scoreless innings of work to date.

Guerrera came off the board in the 20th round, as the Mets selected the power-hitting shortshop with their final pick of the draft. An All-MAAC First Team honoree, Guerrera tied Fairfield’s single-season record with 13 home runs this spring, capped off by a mammoth three-run blast against Arizona State in the NCAA Regionals that stood up as the winning runs for the Stags. Guerrera led the MAAC in homers as well as RBIs (45), runs scored (45) and slugging percentage (.685).

"The initial thought [after being drafted] was everything paid off and everything happened for a reason," Guerrera said. "But then you immediately come back to reality and know there's a lot more work ahead, and the ultimate goal is to make it all the way to the top and being a professional baseball player in the major leagues."

Guerrera has also found success in the summer leagues as he leads the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) with nine home runs in just 20 games.

The 2021 Fairfield Stags won a program-record 39 games en route to the MAAC Regular Season Championship and the conference’s first-ever at-large bid to the NCAA Championship. Fairfield went on to win two games at the Austin (Texas) Regional, upending Southern University and Arizona State University for the first two NCAA wins in program history.