June 23, 2003
FAIRFAX, VA ... George Mason junior shortstop Jeff Palumbo has been named as the recipient of the inaugural Colonial Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete Award for baseball.
Beginning in 2002-03, the CAA is honoring one scholar-athlete in each of its 21 championship sports. Nominees for the award must be a starter or important reserve on his/her team and must meet the Verizon Academic All-America criteria of a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.20. The recipients were selected by a vote of the sports information directors at each CAA institution.
Palumbo (Bowie, MD/St. John's HS) is the first George Mason student-athlete to earn the award. Through the Fall 2002 semester, the administration of justice major had a 3.61 grade point average. Palumbo had been selected for the Athletic Director's Honor Roll (minimum 3.0 GPA) in each of his five semesters, and he twice had earned a spot on the Dean's List (minimum 3.5 GPA). He also was named as a CAA Scholar-Athlete in each of his first two years as a Patriot.
On the playing field, Palumbo has been selected as the CAA Defensive Player of the Year, to the All-CAA second team and to the All-Virginia first team in 2003. Chosen as the CAA's best defensive shortstop in a preseason coaches poll by Baseball America, he did not disappoint. The 5-10, 165-pounder committed seven errors in 248 chances for a .972 fielding percentage, and he made just one error in 107 chances in 22 contests against CAA foes (.991 percentage). Palumbo finished the season with a 24-game errorless streak (covering 109 chances) and his 163 assists ranked second in the conference.
Offensively, the switch-hitter had another solid season as he batted .310 with five home runs and 36 runs batted in. He ranked fourth on the Patriots in both batting and RBI, tying with teammate Evan Howard for the latter honor and tying with Howard for third on the team in home runs. He had eight RBI vs. Towson in the CAA Tournament on May 22 to tie the George Mason school record, and his 11 RBI over five games in Manteo, NC, tied the tournament mark.
George Mason completed the 2003 season with a 31-20 overall record and a 9-8 mark in the CAA. It was the first time the Patriots posted 30 wins since 1999, and they overcame being the No. 6 seed in the OBX/CAA Baseball Championship to win three games in the tournament and advance to the championship round for the first time since 1993.
