New York Mets at Washington Nationals - Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Just one day after being called up from Triple-A Las Vegas, former UC Davis baseball standout Ty Kelly made his Major League debut on Tuesday night (May 24) in Washington, D.C., starting at third base for the New York Mets against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park.

With the start, Kelly officially became the fourth former Aggie to play in the Major Leagues -- and the second to make his debut this season -- joining Steve Brown (California Angels), Daniel Descalso (St. Louis Cardinals and Colorado Rockies), and Joe Biagini (Toronto Blue Jays). Biagini made his debut earlier this year for the Blue Jays on April 8 against Boston.

Kelly finished 0-for-4 in his debut, but came up with two on and represented the tying run in the ninth inning of a 7-4 game before grounding out. He battled hard-throwing Washington ace Stephen Strasburg in his first three at-bats in the first meeting between the two since they were both collegians as UC Davis faced-off against No. 21 San Diego State at PETCO Park on April 3, 2009.

Drafted in the 13th round by Baltimore in 2009, Kelly has spent the better part of the last eight seasons in the minor leagues before getting the call on Monday (May 23), hitting .280 with 44 home runs and 384 RBI in his career.

After playing one season at Loyola Marymount in 2007, Kelly transferred to UC Davis for his sophomore and junior seasons, just in time to help usher the Aggies' program into the Division I ranks and reach an NCAA Regional in its first year of eligibility. He hit .354 in two seasons with UC Davis, scoring 85 runs, slugging 37 doubles, and collecting 79 RBI in 113 career games. His career average stands sixth on the all-time list and leads all players (minimum 350 career at-bats) during the program's Division I history.

He led the Big West Conference in hitting at .397 with a team-high 94 hits as a sophomore -- an average which ranks second on the school's single-season list and a hit total that is third for a single-season -- and paced the squad with 66 hits, 20 doubles (fourth all-time in a single-season), four home runs, and 40 RBI, as a junior.

Kelly was an All-Big West second team selection in 2008 and an all-conference honorable mention pick as a junior in 2009.