Feb. 18, 2009
The expectations are extraordinarily high for the 2009 George Mason baseball team, and to understand why, one needs only to look at the factors that have led to this point. In 2006, the Patriots played four freshmen regularly in the field and two others made 13 or more appearances on the mound. Half of that group was named to the CAA All-Rookie Team and all of them enter this year, their senior season, with prominent roles. Add to that mix several talented younger players and transfers and breaking the school's record for wins in a season is a realistic goal.
The Patriots return every position player from a team that was among the top 10 all-time at Mason in 11 different offensive categories, including batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs, RBI and home runs. The Patriots also tied for the best single-season fielding percentage in school history last year. Leading the charge at the plate is a pair of players named to this year's Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Watch List.
Senior Scott Krieger, Mason's all-time leader in home runs, is also on pace to set school records for career hits, RBI, runs and total bases while having a shot at both the games played and games started record. The right-handed hitting leftfielder has improved his offensive figures every year and he enters his senior season with a .351 career batting average, 49 home runs, 158 RBI, 160 runs, a .671 slugging percentage and a .429 on-base percentage. Last year, Krieger set the CAA Tournament record for RBI in a tournament.
Junior Justin Bour made a run last year at becoming the first Mason player to bat better than .400 since Jeff Palumbo in 2004. He finished 2008 batting .398 with 15 homers, 65 RBI and 57 runs scored while slugging .665 and compiling a .479 on-base percentage. Despite having played just two seasons, the left-handed hitting first baseman is among the school's all-time leaders in home runs, RBI, slugging percentage and batting average.
Krieger and Bour are surrounded in the lineup by a slew of capable hitters with an abundance of tools. In the outfield with Krieger are a pair of fourth-year seniors who have been big contributors since 2006. In centerfield is Spencer Wiggins, who has started all 139 games in his career. He has stolen 34 of 45 bases and he has a .292 career batting average. The switch-hitter has never batted less than .287 in a single season and has stolen at least 10 bases in each season. Wiggins is also threatening the school's career mark for being hit by a pitch. He has made just six errors in his career.
In rightfield, completing one of the top defensive outfields in the CAA is Ryan Uphouse. The right-handed hitting slugger batted .281 last year with seven home runs, 11 doubles, a .472 slugging percentage and four stolen bases. He committed just three errors last year in 48 starts. Two players capable of stepping into the outfield for spot starts or in case of injury are sophomore Shane Davis and freshman Josh Turner. Davis played in 30 games last year, with some of those coming as a designated hitter. The switch-hitter had 15 RBI and 15 runs. Turner was a high school All-American in track at Potomac Senior and will provide speed on the base paths and defense in the outfield. Moving from the bullpen to the outfield is Jeremy Haas. He pitched early in the year last season before earning a redshirt.
Joining Bour in the infield is a quartet of experienced performers. At shortstop is one of the most experienced players on the team. Brent Weiss has started all 150 games he's played and he's the linchpin in the infield. The other half of the double-play combination is Ryan Soares. The junior who transferred to Mason from South Florida in time to play last season, batted .315 in his inaugural campaign with the Patriots. He had seven homers, 15 doubles, 49 RBI, 44 runs scored and six steals. He is one of the top defensive players in the CAA and he started every contest last year for the Patriots.
At third base is Mark Hill. The junior batted .300 last season in 213 at-bats with a .441 slugging percentage and a .379 on-base percentage. He showed he was a clutch performer last year when he hit a three-run game-tying ninth-inning home run in the CAA Tournament in a game Mason went on to win. In the final 36 games of 2008, he hit .366 with 23 RBI, a .454 on-base percentage and a .475 slugging percentage.
A 2007 CAA All-Rookie selection, Dan Palumbo, earned a medical redshirt last season. He batted better than .300 as a freshman when he was the starting third baseman. He will provide depth at all of the infield positions in 2009. Aaron Tenney will also be capable of stepping in to play third base or the outfield. The redshirt sophomore had a .343 on-base percentage last year in 12 starts at designated hitter. Freshman Jacob Myer comes to Mason from Woodbridge and he can play both corner infield positions. He was first-team All-State and first-team All-Met last year and he was District Player of the Year while batting .445 with nine homers. Brig Tison can play both middle infield positions. He comes to Mason from James Madison H.S. in Vienna and he was All-District and All-Region last year and he batted .350 on his career.
The starting catcher will be Chris Henderson. The junior, who also can play the outfield and designated hitter, started all 55 games last year leading the team in at-bats, with 233, and doubles, with 20. He batted .339 with a .506 slugging percentage and a .403 on-base percentage. He walked 24 times with just 25 strikeouts. Henderson also had 41 RBI, 55 runs and was 4 of 5 in stolen bases while committing just six errors.
Mason has two back-up catchers, one of which started nearly half the games last season and was a significant contributor at designated hitter. Josh Steinberg was third on the team in batting average with a .342 mark and he drove in 17 runs with 18 RBI in 29 games. He started 24 contests for the Patriots. Freshman Dan Schafferman comes to Mason from Wilmington, Del. And he was first-team All-State as a senior when he batted .513 with nine homers, seven triples and 44 RBI.
Much like the hitters, the pitching staff is nearly intact from 2008. Dan Jaycox, a weekend starter, graduated. Senior Mike Modica and junior Dan Gerjets return as weekend starters with redshirt junior Kevin Crum likely to take his spot in the rotation.
Modica, who has been drafted twice in the past four years, is on pace to set the school record for starts in a career and he should finish top five in strikeouts and top 10 in innings pitched. Gerjets was named third-team All-CAA last year after earning six winnings in nine starts while striking out 43 in 68 innings. Crum transferred to Mason from VMI after being among the nation's leaders in saves as a sophomore with 14. Kris Mengle, who pitched primarily as a mid-week starter last season and was 4-2 with a 4.25 ERA and 37 strikeouts and only 17 walks in 65.2 innings pitched, will challenge for the open weekend spot.
During the midweek Mengle will be joined by a group that includes Darren McLean, T.J. O'Grady, Ryan Brecko and Trevor Rosenberg. Also fighting for spot starts will be Chris O'Grady and Kevin Lingerman. McLean made three starts and 16 appearances last year pitching a total of 32.2 innings. T.J. O'Grady pitched 17 times out of the bullpen with a 6.00 ERA and one win and one save in 21 innings. Rosenberg made three starts while Chris O'Grady and Lingerman are freshmen.
Brecko started the season in the rotation and made five starts before moving to the bullpen when injuries left Mason depleted at closer. The sophomore righthander was 7-2 with a 3.94 ERA and four saves. He allowed opponents to bat just .237 in 61.2 innings. He was named third-team All-CAA. He is likely to pitch in the late innings against CAA opponents while being available for mid-week starts as well.
Jordan Flasher entered last season as one of the nation's top returning closers after saving 14 games as a sophomore. He shattered the school's record for saves in a season and tied the school record for saves in a career. He is in easy reach of the school record for career appearances and he's one of Mason's all-time top pitchers in strikeout-to-walk ratio. He pitched just one inning last year, injuring his pitching elbow and undergoing Tommy John surgery. He is expected to resume his role as the staff closer this season.
While Flasher will close, Brecko, T.J. O'Grady, Shawn Griffith and Jason Koziol will be available in the late innings. Koziol made 15 appearances last year with 17 strikeouts in 19 innings. Griffith was one of the hardest pitchers in the CAA to hit with a .215 opponent's batting average. He made 21 appearances and struck out 33 in 35.2 innings.
Pitching in the middle innings for the Patriots will be a mix of experienced pitchers and first-year players. Benji Kagan and Jack Zeltner return to the pen and they will be joined by freshmen Branden Bartlett, Ryan Pfaeffle and Ben Reade. Kagan made 10 appearances last year, while Zeltner pitched early in the season before earning redshirts.
For the 28th straight season, the Patriots will be led by head coach Bill Brown, the longest tenured coach in Mason athletics history and the dean of the CAA baseball coaches. Mason's all-time winninest coach will be joined by assistants Steve Hay, in his third season, and Kyle Werman, in his first year. Former Patriot and current minor leaguer Robby Jacobsen will be a volunteer assistant coach. He worked with the Patriots in the fall and will be with the team until early March when he will head to spring training.
For the fifth time in the past six years, Mason will open a season in the state of South Carolina. The Patriots will play four games in three days in Spartanburg, S.C. taking on USC Upstate, UNC Asheville and SIU-Edwardsville. The following weekend, Mason will play in Jacksonville, Fla. against North Florida, Ohio State and Connecticut. Mason will open its home schedule on March 3 against Temple. Home weekend series will be against Army, Lehigh, UNC Wilmington, Towson, Hofstra and Northeastern with away series at Old Dominion, William & Mary, VCU and James Madison.
The Patriots will play home-and-home mid-week games with Maryland, Liberty, Georgetown and George Washington. Mason will host Temple, Massachusetts, Marist, Mount St. Mary's, Rider and Rollins while playing at N.C. State, Navy and Maryland-Baltimore County. If Mason finishes in the top six of the CAA, the Patriots will play in the CAA Tournament, which opens on Wednesday, May 20.
