St. John's pitcher George Brown likes numbers.
The Academic All-American is an accounting major with a
3.47 GPA and plans on staying in New York and
becoming a Certified Public Accountant if an opportunity
to play professionally doesn't transpire. However it doesn't
take a CPA's number crunching ability to recognize that
the graduating senior from Syracuse, New York has put up
big league numbers this past season. The lefty went 9-0
for the BIG EAST champion Red Storm, earning a handsome
2.73 ERA and exhibiting NASA like precision on his pitches.
In 85.2 s pitched, Brown only walked nine batters while
striking out 58 for just over a 1:7 walk to strikeout ratio.
For his accomplishments on the diamond,
Brown has received a number of accolades including being
named the BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year, as well a semifinalists
for the 2008 Dick Howser Trophy, the USA Baseball Golden
Spikes Award as well as the Clemens Award.
This season St. John's set a new school
record with 42 wins and compiled the program's best winning
percentage (.724) in over twenty years en route to wining
their second straight BIG EAST regular season title and
NCAA Tournament appearance. However Brown and the Red Storm’s
season came to an end last weekend after going 1-2 in the
Houston Regional. St. John's did defeat Big XII Tournament
Champion Texas in the opening round, however they weren’t
able to topple top seeded Rice and were outscored by a single
run in a rematch against the ‘Horns.
Prior to heading down to Texas, the Red
Storm ace answered a few questions from Ping!Baseball:
PING!: The
Red Storm was rolling at the end of the season, piling up
victories and winning series after series, but got bounced
early in the BIG EAST Tournament, losing their first two
games. What the heck happened in Clearwater to send you
guys back home early?
Brown: We didn't play our best baseball
in Florida. We know we're capable of playing better than
that so we were disappointed with our performance. Villanova
and Seton Hall took advantage and played well enough to
win.
PING!: You’re headed
to Houston to face Rice, Texas and Sam Houston State, in
one of the toughest regions. SJU fans will most certainly
be outnumbered due to the other school’s close proximity
to Houston, while your contingent will be travelling half
way across the country. Despite this, do you expect a loud
and passionate fan base to follow the team to Texas?
Brown: A lot of the parents have been
making road trips to see us all year, so I would expect
them to come out to Texas to watch us. Certainly, we'll
be outnumbered with the other three schools being from Texas
so it will be a road environment. We've played well on the
road all season, though, so we won't mind.
PING!: What's is most hostile
environment you've pitched in?
Brown: My freshman year
we played at Louisiana-Lafayette and there had to be a few
thousand fans in attendance. They were loud, roudy and not
afraid to get personal with their comments. I haven't seen
anything like it since.
PING!: Last year you guys
played three one-run nail bitters in the Regionals, unfortunately
being on the losing end of two of those contests. Will last
year’s experience help you this year or is it a whole
new ballgame?
Brown: It will definitely
help us this year. A lot of guys from that team are back
this season so this team knows what it's like to play close
games in the tournament. The experience you can gain from
hard-fought, quality games like those really builds character
and confidence. It is the kind of experience you can only
gain from being there.
PING!: Cincinnati finished
up as the conference bridesmaid in both the regular season
as well as the tournament this season, but didn’t
get an invite to play on in the NCAAs. Considering a third
seeded BIG EAST team made it to the series last year, how
do you feel about the Bearcats not receiving an at large
bid?
Brown: The NCAA committee
has a tough job every year picking 64 teams to make the
tournament. Cincinnati played great down the stretch and
made a good run to make it to the BIG EAST Championship.
It's always good for the BIG EAST to put as many teams as
it can in the NCAA Tournament. Obviously last year, the
BIG EAST caught the attention of baseball fans by putting
three teams in and sending Louisville to the CWS. After
a few more multi-bid years, hopefully more people will start
to notice the quality of BIG EAST baseball.
PING!: I don’t have
all stats in front of me, but I’m guessing there aren’t
a whole of pitchers who have hit more batters with pitches
than they have walked. How do you explain your statistical
anomaly of issuing only nine walks while beaning ten this
season?
Brown: A lot of my hit batters this year
have been on change-ups and curve balls. I'm a contact pitcher
so, in general, my walk totals are pretty low. It would
be tough to explain the anomally. I think the scouting report
on me is that I have good control, so the appraoch of the
hitters tends to be pretty aggresive. As a result they tend
to swing a lot early in the count and don't see enough pitches
to draw walks.
PING!: What has been your
most memorable memory as a part of the St. John’s
baseball team?
Brown: I don't have a specific moment that
is memorable. Certainly we've had some big wins and great
seasons while I've been here, but what I will always remember
about playing at St. John's are my teammates and the coaches.
I've met so many great people that I am lucky enough to
be able to call friends.
PING!: What’s up with
the St. John’s conference, the BIG EAST, always being
written in all caps? Using all capital letters is considering
shouting isn’t it? Is one supposed to exclaim the
name when reading the words BIG EAST aloud in print?
Brown: I was going to try and come up with
an acronym, but I'll tell you why I think it's in all caps.
With 16 teams, the BIG EAST is the largest conference in
the country. From top to bottom, in every sport, the conference
is extremely competitive and I think the ability to field
so many quality teams in every sport is what makes the conference
so great. If those reasons aren't enough to get people's
attention, then I guess using all capital letters will do
the trick.
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