Delaware Ousted as the CAA Baseball Playoffs Take Shape in Final Weekend of Play
May 21, 2011
Photos Courtesy of Mark Campbell_lg.jpg)
NEWARK, Del. - - The chips didn’t fall correctly for the University of Delaware baseball team this weekend as the Blue Hens were officially knocked out of the playoffs as James Madison, Old Dominion, UNC Wilmington and Georgia State grabbed the four Colonial Athletic Association playoff spots this weekend.
The Blue Hens end their season with a 16-14 record in the CAA and a 27-26 overall record in head coach Jim Sherman’s 11th season. After the conclusion of tomorrow’s final game, Delaware will find itself in a tie for fifth place, one game out of the playoffs.
Delaware came into this weekend in fourth place, but had the final weekend off inside the CAA. In order to secure a playoff spot, the Blue Hens needed help from other teams that were also battling for the final two positions. Only James Madison and ODU clinched a playoff spot prior to this weekend’s play.
The Blue Hens were looking for UNC Wilmington and Georgia State to both finish with a 16-14 record, but each team took two out of three games in their final series to place in the top four. UNC Wilmington clinched a spot by defeating Northeastern on Thursday, 5-0, as Georgia State pushed it to the last game of the season and beat George Mason, 2-1, Saturday to round out the field.
The disappointing news means the end of a career for six Blue Hens players: Dave Anderson, Pat Dameron, Matt Harden, Aaron Mascoe, Steve Ulaky and Nick Young.
Anderson finished the season batting .246 with six homeruns and rounds out his career as a .275 hitter, nine homeruns and 52 RBI’s while holding down shortstop in his two years. He also hit three home runs in a game this year, accomplishing the feat for the 20th time in program history.
Dameron batted a team high .363 this season, capping his career as a .347 hitter with a program second best 68 doubles. He also hit three-home runs in one game, and has a total 249 career hits as a Blue Hen, ranking him ninth all-time.
Harden finished his career as a reliever, becoming the only player in program history to appear in three games in one day. As a senior, he pitched 14.2 innings out of the pen, recording eight strikeouts in 12 appearances. He is 3-7 in his career with 67 strikeouts.
Mascoe batted .258 this year with 10 doubles and two home runs. More importantly he held down the pitching staff that ranks fifth in the CAA as the team’s catcher. He is a career .277 hitter as a Blue Hen with four home runs and 30 RBI’s.
Ulaky batted a team second best .339 this season but led the team in power numbers with 14 home runs and 54 RBI’s. He is another member of the three home run’s in a single game club, and has also hit two home runs in a single inning, an NCAA record. He is a career .358 hitter with 22 home runs and 100 RBI’s as a four-year player.
Young went 1-3 as a senior with a 5.62 earned run average. He appeared in 14 games, making three starts. He struck out 17 batters in 32 innings of work off the mound. He has appeared in 30 games in his two seasons, more than all but one Blue Hen on the roster. He has a career 6.47 ERA with 62 strikeouts in over 90 innings.
It is the third year in a row the Blue Hens finished with better than a .500 overall record and the first time since 2009 they finished with an above .500 record in the CAA.
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