TIFTON — Connor Thomas might be trading his Georgia Tech jersey for a red one.

Thomas, a former Tift County High baseball player and current Yellow Jackets star, was drafted Tuesday in the fifth round of the Major League Baseball draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. He is the first Blue Devil to be selected since Alex Abbott was drafted out of high school in the sixth round by the Los Angeles Angels in 2014.

Thomas was the 155th player to be selected in this year’s draft.

A lefty, Thomas went 9-2 as a starting pitcher in 2019. He finished the season with a 3.11 ERA and struck out 103 hitters while only walking 19. He figured into many of the Jackets’ biggest games of the season, including a 2-0 complete game victory over Pitt to clinch the ACC Coastal Division in May.

For his efforts, Thomas was named first team All-ACC twice. Collegiate Baseball newspaper named him second team All-American for 2019.

Thomas is a fourth-year junior, meaning he has the option of returning to Georgia Tech for his senior season and being drafted by another team in 2020.

Prior to his stint with Georgia Tech, Thomas pitched for Tift County and was part of the 2015 region championship team. He signed with the Yellow Jackets in December 2015, just prior to the start of his senior season.