Western Kentucky starting pitcher Ryan Thurston delivers to the plate Thursday against Texas-San Antonio.

Former Western Kentucky baseball pitcher Ryan Thurston signed an undrafted free agent deal with the Toronto Blue Jays organization on Sunday. The Madison, Ind., native will report to the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays in Dunedin, Fla.

Upon signing with Toronto, Thurston became the 109th Hilltopper player to sign a professional contract.

Over his career at WKU, Thurston ranked second in program history with 299 strikeouts, third with 52 games started and fifth with 306 2/3 innings pitched. He started 14 games in each of his final three seasons at WKU, settling in as the Friday night pitcher midway through the 2016 campaign.

As a senior, Thurston pitched a career-high 80 2/3 innings while allowing a career-low 15 extra-base hits. He finished the season with a 4.24 ERA, although that mark stood at 3.08 before his final two starts. The lefty was the only pitcher in Conference USA to secure wins over both Southern Mississippi and Louisiana Tech.

Wheeler to play for Cincinnati Christian

Recent Greenwood High School graduate Ryan Wheeler signed a letter of intent to continue his baseball career at Cincinnati Christian University.

Wheeler served as the Gators’ starting catcher as a junior and threw out 17 of 37 base stealers.

As a senior, Wheeler asked to switch to the outfield after playing catcher since Little League and responded by committing just two errors while posting career-bests in batting average (.270) and slugging percentage (.474) and finishing with a .500 on-base percentage.

A member of the NAIA River States Conference, Cincinnati Christian finished the 2018 season with an 8-32 overall record and a 5-21 mark in conference play.