Sterling Bothell baseball news continues as University of Portland senior closer Chris Dennis was selected on the third and final day of Major League Baseball’s 2011 First-Year Player Draft on Wednesday. Dennis went to the Colorado Rockies in the 34th round.

The Bothell right-hander just finished his two-year career at UP as the program’s all-time leader in saves. An All-West Coast Conference First Team pick as a junior and an honorable-mention selection this spring, Dennis tallied a school record 24 career saves, and set a single-season mark with 14 stops last year after transferring from Edmonds Community College. Dennis went 3-2 as a senior with 10 saves and an ERA of 2.29. He also finished with 43 Ks in 39.1 total innings pitched and held opposing hitters to a .173 batting average.

Dennis earned All-American honors as a junior and he was one of five finalists for the 2010 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award.

“I’m very excited,” Dennis said on the Pilots’ Web site. “This is a great opportunity for me and I hope to make the most of it. The Rockies are a very good organization and I’m very happy to be a part of it. I’m not exactly sure where I’ll be next, but I know the Rockies have a Class A team in the Tri-Cities, so I’m hoping to play there.

“The coaches at UP have been outstanding and they’re the reason I’m getting this opportunity. All of their hard work has paid off for me.”