MONTGOMERY, AL – Former UNC Greensboro baseball standout Chris Mason was named the Southern League’s Most Outstanding Pitcher on August 30. The 23-year-old righthander was in Alabama this season with the Montgomery Biscuits, a Tampa Bay Devils Rays affiliate in the Class “AA” Southern League. He was the first Biscuit to receive this award.
Mason was also named to the Southern League Post-Season and Mid-Season All-Star teams and was twice named Pitcher of the Week. He led the Biscuits with 15 wins and a 2.57 ERA. In his 28 games pitched, he retired 136 batters.
Earlier this month, the Biscuits defeated the Huntsville Stars, 4-3, in the fifth and deciding game of the league championship series to repeat as Southern League Champions. With the Biscuits 3-2 series win they become the first team since the 1975-77 Montgomery Rebels to repeat as Southern League Champions. It was also the city of Montgomery’s seventh title, the most in Southern League history.
Mason took the mound for six innings in Game 3 of the series. The Biscuits defeated the Stars, 4-1, and took a 2-1 series lead. Mason struck out three and allowed no runs and just eight hits. With Mason on the mound, the Biscuits were 25-5 on the season and since June did not lose a game that Mason started.
In 2005, Mason was selected 56th overall in the Major League Baseball First-Year Draft. That was the highest a Spartan baseball player has ever been selected since Brian Moehler’s sixth-round selection in 1993. He was one of 10 right-handers chosen out of the 31 pitchers picked by the Rays. Earlier that year, the Cherryville, NC native was named the Southern Conference Pitcher of the Year by the Southern Conference Sports Media Association and was selected to the first team by the league’s head coaches.
As a Spartan, Mason finished the 2005 season with a 6-7 record and a league-leading 2.80 ERA. His 135 strikeouts, eight games completed, and 118.2 innings pitched set new single-season records at UNCG. He was a four-time SoCon Pitcher of the Week and was named one of Louisville Slugger’s National Players of the Week after striking out a school-record 16 batters against East Tennessee State on March 25, 2005.
At the plate, Mason was second on the team with a .324 batting average and collected seven home runs and 15 stolen bases.
For more on Chris Mason and the two-time Southern League Champion Montgomery Biscuits visit http://www.biscuitsbaseball.com/.
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