Lions senior drafted by Marlins, reporting to Florida this week.

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It was your typical baseball day in northwest Oregon. Gray enveloped the sky on a cool, calm morning as I arrived at the Rainier Little League baseball field, nestled between Highway 30 and the Columbia River. It was my first venture into the local Little League scene, so I wasn't exactly sure what to look for when Tim Lokken's Burgerville squad from St. Helens squared off with a team from Clatskanie in the first round of the Columbia County Tournament of Champions.

Wandering for a good photographic vantage point -- Nikon draped around my neck -- someone I had never laid eyes on pulled me from my conversation with an acquaintance by saying, "You'll want a picture of this."

At the plate stood quite the specimen, as 12-year-olds go. Roughly 5-feet-10 with a slender build. A glance to the outfield revealed three much smaller kids backed within an arms reach of the wall, 200 feet from home plate.

"Give it a ride, Matty!" a parent yelled from the Burgerville bleachers, and that he did. The first pitch scurried over the wall in right-center. I missed the shot, and grumbled under my breath as I backed away from the fence on the first base line.

Two innings later, the same kid strode to the plate and blasted another ball, this time into the blackberry bushes 100 feet behind the fence in left-center.

The same stranger who pointed this player out to me (I still don't know who he was) said, simply, "That kid's gonna make it big someday."

For Matt Lokken -- who finished that Little League tournament with a then-record eight home runs -- that "someday" came Friday.

Not only did Lokken join the rest of his 150-plus classmates for their high school graduation, but he also found out where he'll hopefully be spending the next few years of his life: playing professional baseball.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound infielder was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 34th round of the amateur draft. Lokken, who in April had signed to play at Lower Columbia College in Longview, Wash., will instead report to the Marlins' Gulf Coast Rookie League affiliate this week in Jupiter, Fla.

Lokken said the reality of getting drafted straight of high school didn't set in until this past December, after he took some batting practice in front of local scouts for the Marlins and the Boston Red Sox.

"They said they liked what they saw, and the big thing was they wanted to know if I was signable," Lokken said. "They don't like wasting draft picks on guys they can't sign, and they wanted to know if I was willing to sign right out of high school."

After another workout with upper-level scouts from the Marlins, Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles, "they said they thought I had a pretty good chance of getting drafted."

In last week's draft, nine players with Oregon high school ties were taken, with just three current high schoolers selected. In addition to Lokken, outfielder Ty Morrison of Tigard was drafted in the fourth round by the Tampa Bay Rays, and Ashland pitcher and Class 5A Pitcher of the Year Sam Gaviglio -- who guided the Grizzlies to the 5A state title -- went in the 40th round, also to the Rays.

Lokken had a decorated four-year career as a starter for the Lions. As a freshman, he hit .320 with three homers and was voted a second-team all-Three Rivers League infielder. The next season, he hit .370 with nine dingers and was a first-team all-TRL pick. A first-team all-Northwest Oregon Conference and all-state utility player in 2007, Lokken hit .430 with nine home runs. This past season, Lokken again was voted to the Class 5A all-state first team as a utility player (third base, first base and pitcher) after hitting .493 with 11 home runs.

The 60-game Gulf Coast League season begins June 19. Florida's Gulf Coast League is reserved generally for high school and junior college draftees, while more experienced players are usually sent to the New York-Penn Rookie League.

Lokken said he expects to stay at the rookie league level throughout this summer (the season ends in August), and hopes he will perform well enough to get invited to play on the Marlins' instructional league team -- an invitation usually extended to top prospects -- in the fall.

"I'll probably still be in rookie ball next summer," said Lokken, "but by the end of the (2009) season I'm hoping to be on at least a Class A roster."