April 13, 2004
The season is half over for the George Mason baseball team and the Patriots are on track to see several individual and team offensive records broken this year. The prowess they have demonstrated on the field has translated into some impressive national rankings, as the NCAA released its first statistical report on Tuesday.
Jeff Palumbo is on pace to break the school's career record for hits, at-bats and runs and he's on track because of an excellent season. He's been so good that his pace of 1.52 runs per game ranks him third in the nation in that category. He has been surpassed so far by just Jim Geldhof of Central Michigan (1.59 in 29 games) and Chris O'Dell of Eastern Kentucky (1.62 in 21 games).
Several other Patriots rank among the top 30 in the nation in individual categories, and one other is in the top 10. Chris Looze is tenth in the nation in RBI per game with 1.48. He is currently on pace to tie the school record for RBI in a season. That mark of 80 was set by Kevin Burke in 1985. Adam Innerst is just three RBI behind Looze this year and that translates into 24th in the nation with 1.39 RBI per game. Innerst is also 30th in the nation in slugging percentage with a .732 mark. Matt Cooksey has four triples on the season and over the course of 28 games, that translates into .14 triples per game, which is 28th in the nation. He is one triple shy of tying the school record for triples in a career, set by former major leaguer Mike Colangelo, set for 1995-97.
Stacen Gant is the lone pitcher on a national list and that's because of his outstanding wins total. He has posted six wins which ties him for 24th in the nation. Twice Gant has left games with leads only to not earn the victory. If the bullpen had held those leads, he would be tied for third in the nation with eight wins. Gant's ERA of 2.15 places him jut outside the top 50 in the nation.
As a team, the Patriots are ranked 23rd in the nation in scoring, as they are posting 8.3 runs per game. They are also 29th in batting average with a .319 mark. Eastern Kentucky leads the nation in both those categories with a .400 team batting average and 11.4 runs per game.
As a conference, the Colonial Athletic Association has at least three players ranked in every individual category with the exception of batting average where the top two in the conference are ranked. In the team categories, William & Mary is also ranked in batting average and scoring (sixth in both), James Madison is ranked in scoring (26th) and Virginia Commonwealth is ranked in ERA (24th). Palumbo, along with Greg Sexton of William & Mary (doubles per game), Mike Butia of James Madison (slugging percentage) and Blake Cross of UNC Wilmington (saves per game) is the highest ranked individual in the CAA.
