Baseball team runners-up in CAA championship

The baseball team got off to a rough season start but then went on a winning streak that took the Hens to the Colonial Athletic Association championship tournament and earned Head Coach Jim Sherman CAA Coach of the Year honors.

Sherman, in his seventh season at UD, led the team to a remarkable transformation from a 2-10 start to a final record of 32-23 overall and 18-11 in CAA play.

The Blue Hens finished the regular season in a four-way tie for first place in the CAA and were awarded the second seed in the tournament based on head-to-head tiebreakers.

After pounding George Mason University 13-3 in the opening round, the Hens lost 10-6 to Virginia Commonwealth in the second round of tournament play. UD came back to defeat George Mason again, 6-3, in an elimination round and to shut out Old Dominion 4-0 in the semifinals, advancing to the championship game against Virginia Commonwealth on May 26 in Wilmington, N.C.

That game, a 13-inning contest that was the longest in CAA tournament history, was decided when VCU scored six times in the top of the 13th to break a 4-4 deadlock and emerge as the conference champions by a final tally of 10-4.

In addition to its award to Sherman, the CAA also honored four players on the 2007 UD team. Senior leftfielder Bryan Hagerich was named to the CAA first team, while sophomore infielder Alex Buchholz, senior starting pitcher Billy Harris and junior closer David Slovak earned second-team honors.