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A three-year starter for the Lakers, Sweeney was drafted in the 29th round (875th overall) of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks. During his stint in professional baseball, Sweeney was named the Arizona Diamondbacks Organizational Player of the Year and was selected as a short-season All-Star by Baseball America/Topps Card Company. He played for the Lethbridge Black Diamonds in the Pioneer League (rookie level) where he posted league-bests in batting average (.424), runs scored (72), on-base percentage (.552), slugging percentage (.734) and RBI (72) en route to earning the Most Valuable Player award.
He would play for two more seasons after suffering an injury in the spring of 1997, competing in the Class A Midwest League in 1997 and the Class A-Advanced League in 1998. All told, his professional baseball marks include a .307 batting average (236-for-768), a .502 slugging percentage (60 doubles, 5 triples, and 27 home runs), 167 runs scored, 147 RBI and 158 walks.
Sweeney was the first Laker to play in the prestigious Cape Cod League, spending two seasons in the elite wooden-bat league. He holds the Mercyhurst career mark for batting average (.417) while ranking fourth in runs scored (151) and eighth in home runs (15). He also holds the program's best single-season mark for batting average at .467, posting the nation's second-highest figure in 1995.
In his career at Mercyhurst, he helped guide the Lakers to a record of 127-37, a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship (1996), and three consecutive NCAA Regional appearances (1994-96). He earned All-Conference and All-Region honors on three occasions (1994-96) and was named a Second-Team All-American (1995).
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