May 28, 2009

Chris Henderson became the first George Mason baseball player in school history to receive first-team All-America honors as the junior catcher was named to the Louisville Slugger NCAA Division I All-American team as selected by the staff of Collegiate Baseball newspaper. Senior outfielder Scott Krieger and senior pitcher Mike Modica also were honored as they were chosen to the All-American second team. Mason's three selections to the first and second team are more than any other school in the nation.

Henderson, who had previously been as a semifinalist for the Howser Trophy and the Bench Award, enters tomorrow's NCAA Regionals batting .415 with 14 homers, 54 RBI and 69 runs scored. He leads all the first-team players with 21 doubles and his 24 strikeouts are the fewest on the team. His 94 hits are second on the team. He was named CAA Defensive Player of the Year and he shared the Player of the Year award with teammate Kreieger.

Krieger is batting .378 with 20 homers, 80 RBI and 67 runs scored. A preseason first-team All-American, Krieger leads all active players in NCAA Division I in career homers (69), career RBI (238) and career total bases (587). This is Krieger's second All-America honor. In 2007, he was named third-team All-America by the American Baseball Coaches Association.

Modica is 11-1 on the year with a 4.17 ERA and he has held the opposition to just a .225 batting average. He has struck out 73 batters in 82 innings and he is Mason's all-time leader in career starts and he is second in career strikeouts and third in career wins. He is one shy of the school record for wins in a season. He has faced more batters than any other pitcher in school history. Modica will start Mason's Friday contest with South Carolina when the Patriots open the NCAA Tournament at 3 p.m.

Mason's highest post-season All-Americans coming into this season were Lonnie Goldberg, who was selected by the National College Baseball Writer's Association in 1993, and Chris Looze, who was selected by the ABCA in 2004. Both were second-team selections.

The Patriots, the third seed in the Greenville N.C. Regional, will take on south Carolina, the second seed, at 3 p.m. on Friday. Modica is the scheduled starter for the Patriots in that contest. Live video of the game will be available through either ncaasports.com or ecupirates.com. Live audio and stats will be available on GoMason.com.