NCAA baseball: up close

By DAVID DRIVER
For the Stafford County Sun
Published: June 5, 2008

STAFFORD —  The college career for Staffords Marshall Thomason did not begin well for his team, as Mt. St. Mary’s lost its first 15 games of the season.
But the end of his first season at the college level was historic, as Mt. St. Mary’s of Maryland qualified for its first trip to the Division I NCAA baseball tournament.

But The Mount, located in Frederick County, Md., lost to national power North Carolina of the Atlantic Coast Conference 16-8 on May 30 and 6-3 to Elon on May 31 in the double-elimination regional in Cary, N.C.

“It was real cool,” Thomason, a freshman pitcher from North Stafford High School, said of the NCAA regional. “There were about 5,000 fans there and about 99 percent were (UNC) fans.”

The Mountaineers gave up 18 hits in the loss to the Tar Heels, who scored in all but two innings. The Mount then was eliminated from the tournament with the loss to Elon of the Southern Conference.

“We felt like we should have won that,” said Thomason, whose parents, David and Gail, attended the regional near Raleigh, N.C.

The Mount qualified for the NCAA tournament by winning the Northeast Conference title May 24 over Monmouth in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The team played several top non-conference opponents to start the season to prepare for teams in the NEC, a league ranked much lower than the ACC.

“It was great. It was amazing to win the conference,” Thomason said. “We got some national attention across the country.”

That came after The Mount lost its first 15 games of the season. But Thomason said the team did not get discouraged.

“We knew we were all very good players,” he said. “We had to get through our slump.”

Thomason, a right-handed starting pitcher, picked up his first college win in early April in a 12-7 decision over Coppin State. He also beat conference foe Central Connecticut State 5-2 at home in April when he allowed two runs and three hits in a complete-game performance.

Thomason was 2-4 this season with an ERA of 6.29 in seven starts for

The Mount. He threw 34.1 innings and his last appearance came April 26 against Wagner.

But Thomason came down with a muscle strain in his elbow in May and was instructed not to pitch for six weeks. He did not get to pitch in the conference tournament in New Jersey or at the NCAA regional in North Carolina.

“It was so hard to watch,” said Thomason, who was in street clothes in The Mount dugout this past weekend in North Carolina.

Thomason plans to do rehab work for the next few weeks and hopes to throw off the mount at North Stafford High in July. He will work out with Jim

Labrusciano, the North Stafford head varsity coach.

“He had a very good fall. He was their No. 2 starter,” said Labrusciano, who attended the UNC game at the U.S. facilities in Cary. “That speaks volumes for a freshman.”

Despite his injury, Thomason has the potential to be a solid college pitcher. He throws a fastball that has been clocked in the upper 80s and also throws a curve and change up. While in high school he made college visits to Richmond, Lehigh and Rider but signed with The Mount before his senior season.

“I really like the coaches,” he said of the Mountaineers. “I like the level of competition. We play some big-name schools.”

Thomason pitched just a few innings as a junior at North Stafford. “I really wasn’t very good,” said the Stafford resident.

That is no longer the case. Thomason hopes to be healthy for his sophomore season and could be one of the top starters in 2009 for The Mount.

David Driver is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to The Stafford County Sun. Reach him at .