Mary Washington College Baseball


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Mary Washington College Baseball

Mary Washington College Baseball

DINWIDDIE - In December of his senior year at Dinwiddie High School, Chris King signed an NCAA National Letter of Intent to play baseball at Liberty University.

King had a terrific four-year career for the Generals that culminated with a Central District regular season title and the award for being named district player of the year.

Naturally, the infielder and pitcher was ecstatic about continuing his career at a top-flight Division 1 program.

In Lynchburg, the 19-year-old was being used and thought of primarily as a pitcher and ended up being redshirted for his freshman year. Therefore, King decided to find somewhere that would better suit his talents and allow him the opportunity to play everyday, and more importantly, grow his game.

Enter the University of Mary Washington.

"Yes, I have made the decision to play at Mary Washington next season," King said. "Hopefully it will give me a chance to play and continue my college career."

He said there are no regrets after spending a year at Liberty, where the student-athlete racked up 36 credit hours.

"It was a really good experience, I just feel like this gives me a better opportunity," King added. "But I have to admit I learned a lot by sitting on the bench this past year. Besides getting an understanding of the game, I got a chance to watch Matt Williams play shortstop and get drafted. He showed me how to play the game and how to prepare for every game."

Williams, who went in the 15th round of the MLB Draft to the St. Louis Cardinals, was one of seven Flames that got drafted this past June that included Williams, Garrett Baker (11th round), Steven Evans (13th round), Blake Forslund (17th round), Casey Rasmus (26th round), Keegan Linza (38th round) and Tyler Bream (42nd round), the son of former Major Leaguer Sid Bream. It was the most players chosen in a single draft in the 38-year history of the Flames program.

King, a 6-1, 165-pounder, chose Liberty over a dozen schools that included Radford, Richmond and East Carolina.

During his Dinwiddie career, King was a solid hitter ever since being penciled into the lineup his freshman season. Over the course of his junior and senior season, because of his arm, he developed into an adept pitcher too and was recognized as an all-district performer.

The son of Tracy and Sharon King, who was honored with the distinguished Outstanding Athlete Award at last year's spring banquet, was named first team all-region as a pitcher and second team all-region at shortstop his senior season. He was named all-metro pitcher and hit .518 for the season.

In three years time since that first year, King went from role player to main cog in the Generals baseball machine that secured two titles. During the summer prior to his senior season, he played for the Richmond Braves 17U travel team. There, he played shortstop and pitched for nine weekends over the summer and hit well over .500. He also had a stint between his sophomore and junior season where he played for the Colonial Heights Post 284 Bucs in American Legion baseball. He has returned to the Bucs for this season.

Dinwiddie coach Shawn Wynn, who was not only his coach for four years, but also a good friend, aided King when he made the decision to leave Liberty.

"He contacted me a while back," Wynn said. "And asked me if I would call Mary Washington coach Tom Sheridan. So I did, and Sheridan called me right back and I explained to him what a good player and person Chris King was."

As Wynn said, it is a perfect fit, plus King will have a support group both in Dinwiddie and Fredericksburg that will help the transition.

"He is going to a great school and a great baseball program," Wynn stated. "Plus, because of the redshirt season, he should have four years to play. I just see it as a win-win situation for Chris and Mary Washington."

Any program, especially the Eagles that compete in the NCAA D-III Capital Athletic Conference, is looking for more win-wins.

Mary Washington, under the direction of Sheridan and with a 37-man roster, which included 25 in-state players, finished this past season with a 27-15 record. Sheridan has become one of the winningest coaches in all of NCAA baseball over the past 25 years at Mary Washington, turning it into a national power. Since 1988, Sheridan's teams have won 593 games, lost just 270, and tied three. In addition to winning the Blue/Grey Conference title in 1988 and 1989, the Eagles have won eight Capital Athletic Conference crowns, with Sheridan being named conference Coach of the Year on 13 occasions. In 2009, he became one of just a handful of coaches in the history of Division III baseball to earn his 500th career victory.

Also, during Sheridan's tenure, Mary Washington has seen 12 players sign professional contracts.

King will become the first Central District baseball player to play at Mary Washington since Thomas Dale's Frankie Sheffield, who had an excellent career at the Fredericksburg campus.

FROM CBD NEWS SOURCE
KINGSTON, R.I. – Rhode Island baseball head coach Jim Foster has released his club’s 2012 schedule. Rhody’s slate is highlighted by a trip to Nashville for a three-game set with Vanderbilt, which was just credited with the nations top recruiting class. The Commodores also advanced to last season’s College World Series and spent time ranked as the country’s No. 1 team.

The Rams will also travel to Florida State – during their Atlantic 10 bye week (April 27-29) – for three games against the Seminoles, who competed in last season’s NCAA Super Regionals as well as the 2010 CWS.

“As always, we’ve put together a very challenging schedule for our guys,” said Foster. “For early non-conference games, we like to schedule some of the top teams in the country to help prepare us for what lies ahead in the Atlantic 10.”

URI opens the season with a three-game series at William & Mary (Feb. 17-19) before heading to the College of Charleston Cougar Invitational. There, Rhody will take on host team C of C, Xavier (non-conference game) and Connecticut.

From there, the Rams travel to Vandy for a March 2-4 series with the Commodores before playing the next eight games in California, where they will play a three-game set at Pepperdine (March 9-11), two games at Cal State Northridge (March 13-14) and three at UC Santa Barbara (March 16-18).

Once back on the East Coast, Rhode Island will play a non-conference game at Sacred Heart on March 21. The Rams will then host the defending Atlantic 10 champions when Charlotte comes to Kingston to open up league play on March 23-25.

Other home A-10 series include: George Washington (April 6-8), Xavier (April 20-22) and Richmond (May 11-13).

“I really like the home portion of our league schedule,” Foster explained. “Charlotte, Xavier and Richmond all qualified for last year’s A-10 tournament so we’re fortunate to be facing those three teams here on our home field this season.”

The Rams will travel to play three-game conference series at Saint Joseph’s (March 30-April 1), St. Bonaventure (April 13-15), Fordham (May 4-6), and Temple (May 17-19).

URI’s non-conference home schedule features games against Iona (March 27), Northeastern (April 3), Bryant (April 11), Brown (April 24) and Hartford (April 25).

Rhode Island will also face non-conference opponents Central Connecticut (April 4), Quinnipiac (April 10), Boston College (April 17), Stony Brook (April 18), Northeastern (May 14) and Connecticut (May 15) on the road.

“I feel as though we were able to put together a very attractive schedule for both our fans and players,” added Foster. “We’re looking forward to getting the new season started.”

The Rams – who have made conference-best nine consecutive A-10 tournament appearances – will look to continue their streak at this year’s league championship, hosted by Fordham at Houlihan Park (May 23-26).