BALTIMORE -- It’s been a great year for no-hitters in the Majors, with Orioles ace John Means completing one of seven thrown in the first half of the 2021 season. If the trend extended to the collegiate ranks, the O's took notice.

The Orioles added two pitchers with a no-hitter on their resume by the time they completed Tuesday’s Day 3 of the 2021 Draft. Both fifth-round right-hander Carlos Tavera and 11th-round righty Dylan Heid accomplished the feat this spring, before the O's called their names this week.

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“We spend a lot of time looking at these college pitching prospects,” Orioles amateur scouting supervisor Brad Ciolek said. “And I know people say we wait a little while to take them, but that’s because of all the research we do. We also do the best job possible to slot them where we think we can get them. We’re very confident in that strategy, so far it has boded well.”

Pitching for the University of Texas-Arlington, Tavera logged the first nine innings of the program’s first no-hitter in 38 years on May 1, an 11-inning combined effort against Little Rock. The 22-year-old Tavera threw 132 pitches and struck out 11 in the contest.

Heid twirled a solo seven-inning no-no for Division III University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown on March 6, striking out 13 against West Liberty University in Pitt-Johnstown’s season opener. Heid went on to have one of the best seasons in Division III, going 7-2 with a 1.37 ERA and a 105-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio in nine starts.

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“We didn’t have scouts at that specific game, but we did look at Dylan [Heid] in the Draft League, and what stands out is how good his fastball is,” Ciolek said. “He’s been up to 94 mph with big hop on the fastball, and gets a lot of swing and misses.”

Heid also fits a profile the Orioles have consistently targeted at the back end of the Draft under their current front office, which is to use a few late picks on perhaps overlooked, often undersized players with superlative college stats from outside Division I.

In 2019, the Orioles used their 21st-round pick (the Draft wasn’t capped at 20 rounds) on third baseman Toby Welk from D-III Penn State-Berks, and drafted D-III righty Nick Roth in the 26th round from Randolph Macon University. After 2020’s five-round Draft, they signed non-drafted free agents TT Bowens out of DII Central Connecticut State, and Heid’s former teammate at Pitt-Johnstown, right-hander Isaiah Kearns. The O’s also selected righty Ryan Long from D-III Pomona-Pitzer College on Tuesday.

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The most encouraging prospect of the bunch is Welk, who excelled at Class A Delmarva in 2019 and is currently at Double-A Bowie.

All told, the Orioles selected college pitchers with eight of their 10 picks on Day 3, after loading up on college position players in rounds 1-10.

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“We’re looking for guys who throw strikes, throw a lot of strikes, get more strikeouts than walks, and guys who have some secondary weapons we might be able to hone on and improve,” Ciolek said. “A lot of these guys check those boxes and we’re really happy with the group of arms we got.”

Here are all of Baltimore’s Day 3 picks:

11th round: Dylan Heid, RHP, Pittsburgh-Johnstown
12th round: Justin Armbruester, RHP, New Mexico
13th round: Jacob Teter, 1B, Florida Southern
14th round: Daniel Lloyd, RHP, South Carolina
15th round: Keegan Gillies, RHP, Tulane
16th round: Peter Van Loon, RHP, California-Irvine
17th round: Ryan Long, RHP, Pomona-Pitzer
18th round: Conor Grady, RHP, Florida State
19th round: Alex Pham, RHP, University of San Francisco
20th round: Trendon Craig, OF, Louisburg