Nov. 3, 2006

The George Mason baseball coaching staff has undergone a couple of changes in the past few months and the end result has been a promotion and the addition of a new assistant. Hitting coach Jeff Palumbo has been promoted to the top assistant coach's position and he will coordinate Mason's recruiting efforts. Stephen Hay has joined the staff as pitching coach, replacing Shawn Stiffler who left for a similar position at Virginia Commonwealth after six seasons on the coaching staff.

"The opportunity to promote Jeff within our staff is personally gratifying for me," said head baseball coach Bill Brown. "I have been incredibly fortunate to work with some bright young assistant coaches while at Mason, and Jeff is absolutely from the same mold as the best of them. He is a natural leader with an incredible work ethic that will allow him continued success in his expanded responsibilities."

Palumbo, in his second season on the coaching staff, will continue to work with the hitters and with the infield on defense. Hay will work with the pitchers and he inherits a staff that will have to replace 40 percent of its innings pitched from last year.

Hay comes to Mason after five seasons at Webber International University. Where he was pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. In 2002 and 2003, the NAIA school finished among the top five in the country in ERA. The team also won the NAIA Baseball Scholar Team Award two years in a row.

"I am very excited about the addition of Steve Hay as our pitching coach," said Brown. "He brings experience, enthusiasm and a proven pitching philosophy to our baseball program. Steve's influence can already be seen with our student-athletes on and off the field, and he is a perfect fit to our current coaching staff."

Hay played collegiately at Gulf Coast Community College before transferring to WIU. He set the single-season record at WIU for innings pitched and finished fifth all-time in school history in wins. He was the school's Pitcher of the Year in 1999 and that same season, he set Florida Sun Conference records for fewest walks with 100-plus innings pitched (10) and most innings pitched in a single game (13).

Hay is a native of Somerset, Pa. He earned a bachelor's degree in business management from WIU in 1999 and an M.B. A. in Sport Management in 2005.