Chris Munnelly, who just completed an excellent career with the University of North Carolina Tar Heel baseball program, has embarked upon his professional baseball career.

        Munnelly, who worked for a year in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association offices as an intern while in school at UNC, signed with the Houston Astros organization after the Major League Baseball draft. He is pitching for the Astros team in the Gulf Coast League.

        The right handed pitcher is a native of Winston-Salem.