MLB Draft 2014: Dodgers select Sam Moore in 40th round

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers with their 40th and final selection in the 2014 MLB Draft picked UC Irvine closer Sam Moore, with pick No. 1209 overall.

Moore and the Anteaters are one of eight college baseball teams still playing, as the College World Series begins on Saturday from Omaha, Nebraska with UC Irvine battling Texas at noon PT on ESPN2.

The 6'1, 200-pound Moore was named a First Team All-American by the National Collegiate Writers Association of America after leading the nation and setting a Big West Conference record with 23 saves as a junior in 2014. Moore has a 1.88 ERA in 31 games, with 38 strikeouts and 10 walks in 43 innings.

Moore is one save shy of tying the NCAA record of 24, set by UCLA closer David Berg in 2013.

"I wouldn’t say going for the record and missing out was frustrating. Losing games in general is more frustrating," Moore told Janis Carr of the Orange County Register last week. "To me, baseball is more of a team thing, that’s what I tell everyone who asks about the record."

The right-hander is a local boy from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in Rancho Palos Verdes, where Moore played football and was on the wrestling team as well as baseball.

Credit the pick of Moore to Dodgers scout Jeffrey Lachman.