Baseball’s Carty wins accolade

GCSU head baseball coach Tom Carty is still reaping awards from the team’s 2010 season. Carty was recently named the Georgia Dugout Club’s Division II Coach of the Year, after guiding the Bobcats to a 42-17 finish and a semi-final birth in the Division II College World Series.

In addition, the Bobcats won their third Peach Belt Conference title in five years with a 19-5 conference record, and they swept through the Southeast Regional, defeating Mount Olive College, Columbus State University twice and Francis Marion to win their second regional title in their history.

The Bobcats followed up, going 3-2 in the College World Series, falling one game short of the national championship game.

Carty previously was named the PBC Coach of the Year and the Region Coach of the Year by National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

Carty

“It’s a very nice honor to have,” Carty said. “But I think it has much more to do with a really good team and supporting cast. This award is really a tribute to them.”

Carty has spent the last three seasons as the head coach of the Bobcats, amassing an overall record of 112-60. After a young GCSU squad finished 33-24 in his first season in 2008, he restored them to more success, as they finished 37-19 in 2009, earning their third trip in four seasons to the NCAA Tournament. The Bobcats made it four out of five in 2010 with their World Series appearance, their first since 1995.

“Tom has done such a great and amazing job with this program,” Athletic Director Wendell Staton said. “Our program is very well known at the national level, and Tom has been a big part of that success in recent years.” Staton praised Carty for his on-the-field demeanor as well.

“From a baseball purist’s standpoint, I love watching him manage the game,” Staton said. “He always remains very calm.”

Carty’s calmness proved to be an asset in 2010, when the Bobcats got off to a slow start before going on a tear led by explosive hitting and strong pitching and defense that nearly carried them to a national championship.

“He told me he thought they had a great team and a great chance to go very far from the beginning of the season,” Staton said. “And even when they started out of the gate slow, they never wavered from anything.”

“It’s certainly a high honor, but this is a very good staff and hardworking players that helped make all of our success possible,” Carty said. “So a lot of the credit really has to go to them.”

Posted by Scotty Thompson on Oct 22 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.