2012 Baseball Season in Review

MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The University of Montevallo’s return to a title contender continued during the 2012 season as head coach Chandler Rose and his staff led the Falcons to a postseason berth for the first time since 2008. The Falcons have steadily improved under coach Rose’s leadership over the past two seasons despite playing one of the countries toughest schedules both seasons. The Falcons faced ranked opponents in 25 of their 53 games including three games against eventual National Championship game finalist Delta State University.

UM picked up 10 of its 25 wins against ranked opponents including a sweep of 12th-ranked Francis Marion University (3), a pair of wins over #5 UNC Pembroke (2), a win over #15 Southern Indiana (1), a win of #25 Armstrong (1), a win over #26 Columbus State (1), a win of #4 Tusculum (1) and a postseason victory over #13 USC Aiken (1).

Rose led the Falcons to their first winning season in Peach Belt Conference play with a 16-14 mark. It was an eight win improvement over his first season at the helm in PBC play. Overall the Falcons won three more games than last year as they ended with a 25-28 overall record. The Falcons won four conference series including their first two sweeps in PBC play over #12 Francis Marion University and Augusta State University.

UM finished second in the PBC West Division which is the highest finish ever for the Falcons in PBC play and is the highest overall finish since 2007 when the Falcons finished second in the Gulf South Conference East Division.

Junior Will Fulmer (Palm Harbor, Fla./East Lake) led the Falcons in individual awards as he was named Second Team All-Region by the ABCA, Daktronics and NCBWA. He was also named First Team All-Conference. Senior Heath Peterson (Phenix City, Ala./Chattahoochee Valley C.C.) was named Honorable Mention All-Region by NCBWA, First Team All-Conference, National Player of the Week by the NCBWA and D2BaseballNews.com. He was also named PBC Player of the Week and to the PBC All-Academic Team. Sophomore Alex Guilford (Montgomery, Ala./Alabama Christian Academy) was named to the Southeast Region Gold Glove Team. Junior Austin Dubberly (Helena, Ala./Pelham) was named Honorable Mention PBC All-Academic while junior Michael Shreves (Bradenton, Fla./State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota) was named PBC Pitcher of the Week twice.

Peterson was given the team MVP Award. Senior Wes Rich (Pelham, Ala./Pelham) received the team Cy Young Award while Dubberly picked up the team Gold Glove Award.

Fulmer had a tremendous conference season in which he hit .403 and picked up 52 hits. His 52 hits broke the Peach Belt Conference Record for hits in a season (conference games only) which bested the previous record of 51 set by Tyler Evans of Armstrong during the 2007 season. Rich also had a tremendous conference season on the mound as he went 3-0 with six saves in 14 appearances. He pitched 19.0 innings with 19 strikeouts, two walks and just 14 hits given up. His ERA was just 0.95 as he allowed just two earned runs the entire conference season.

The Falcons finished in the top-25 in three national statistical categories. UM was eighth in hit by pitches with 97, ninth in sacrifice flies with 32 and 16th in homeruns with 46. Individually Peterson finished sixth in RBI with 69 just three behind the national leader. He also finished 14th in homeruns with 14. Senior Chris Ross (Pelham, Ala./Jefferson State C.C.) finished fourth in the country in sacrifice flies with nine just three behind the national leader. Dubberly was 16th in sacrifice bunts with 13 while junior Vincente Andrews (Phenix City, Ala./Chattahoochee Valley C.C.) was 18th in hit by pitches with 18. The final Falcon ranked in the top-25 was Fulmer who finished 22nd in hits with 79.

The Falcons also made their mark on the UM NCAA Record Book as Peterson collected the second most putouts in a season at UM. Dubberly had the second highest assists in a season. Ross finished second in sacrifice flies in a season. Peterson was third in the record book for both homeruns and RBI in a season. Dubberly was third for sacrifice bunts in a season. Peterson finished fifth in sacrifice flies while Fulmer had the fifth most multiple hit games in a season. Andrews rounded out the records with the eight most sacrifice flies in a season.

As a team the Falcons dotted the record book with the second most sacrifice flies in a season. The fourth most walks and hit by pitches in a season and the seventh most sacrifice bunts.

Fulmer tied the UM single game record for hits with five against Armstrong during the regular season. Peterson finished second in single game RBI with eight against Armstrong as well. Ross tied the single game record for walks in a game with four against West Alabama. Peterson set the single game record for putouts with 22 against North Georgia. Dubberly also tied the record for single game assists with 11 against North Georgia.

The Falcons had another outstanding season under coach Rose and his staff and they look to continue their climb to the top of the Peach Belt Conference and the Southeast Region in 2013.