The Highlanders have plenty of reasons to celebrate.

After enjoying one of the best seasons in school history, the Royal High baseball team had two players selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft this week.

Senior right-handed pitcher Cody Buckel was nabbed by the Texas Rangers with the 72nd overall choice in the second round. His teammate, Tyler Abbott, a left-handed pitcher, was drafted by the Florida Marlins at No. 1,377 in the 44th round.

Buckel excelled on the mound and at the plate for the Highlanders. He went 12-1 with a 0.61 earned-run average. Buckel added 123 strikeouts on only 17 walks in 80 innings of work. He also batted .410 with six home runs and 25 RBI. Abbott was nearly as impressive. The lanky southpaw went 8-3 with a 1.70 ERA and 82 strikeouts.

Other former Marmonte League standouts drafted include: Westlake’s Christian Yelich (first round, No. 23 overall, Marlins); Thousand Oaks’ Matthew Bywater (Baltimore Orioles), Kevin Gelinas (New York Mets) and Bret Montgomery (Los Angeles Dodgers); and Andrew Pevsner of Agoura (Dodgers).