SAVANNAH, Ga. - Savannah College of Art and Design baseball coach Doug Wollenburg has announced the team captains for the 2010 season.
Pitcher
Stephen Shackleford, catcher
Scott Shambaugh and corner infielder
Matt Zajac have been selected as captains for the upcoming season which begins Jan. 29 with a 2 p.m. Pacific time contest against the No. 2-ranked Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego.
"The 2010 captains were selected by their peers," said Wollenburg. "I think the team on a whole showed a lot of maturity in their selections. The dynamics of the selections were very interesting with a senior, junior and a sophomore. All three players were instrumental in the team chemistry reaching a peak by the end of the fall season."
Shambaugh, a 5-foot-10, 235-pound senior from Gahanna, Ohio, batted .306 (45-of-147) last season for the Bees with nine doubles, one home run and 30 RBI in 45 games (39 starts).
"Scott takes on a leadership role based on his prescience of being a catcher, taking charge behind the plate and being a fine field general," said Wollenburg.
Shackleford, a 6-1, 185-pound junior right hander from Louisville, Ky., led the Bees pitching corps with a 2.69 ERA in 2009. Shackleford went 7-2 a year ago with one shutout and a save as he limited the opposition to a
.245 batting average. He accumulated 62 strikeouts in 93.2 innings pitch while giving up just 28 earned runs. Shackleford finished the season ranked 17th in the NAIA in innings pitched and 29th in ERA.
"Stephen displays his leadership as a voice on the team and especially with the pitchers," said Wollenburg. "Shack has a tremendous work ethic on the field and his work ethic has circulated down through to our young pitchers."
Zajac, a 6-2, 210-pound sophomore from Pine Brook, N.J., batted .289 (44-of-152) in 47 games (43 starts) last season. He tallied 11 doubles and drove in 29 runs.
"Matt has proven himself worthy as a captain with his daily routines of working hard, caring about his teammates, and being a selfless ballplayer."
SCAD, which is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and The Sun Conference, won a university-record 39 games in 2009 and advanced to the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round for the first time in the program's history.