Notre Dame opens weekend with doubleheader at noon on Saturday
JUNIOR SEASON (2009): Tremendous athlete
who was an all-BIG EAST first team outfielder in '08
and all-BIG EAST third baseman in `07 ... versatile
defensive player with great hands, strong arm and
classic fielding instincts ... clutch performer who can
hit for power, with line drive swing and quick bat ...
one of team's fastest base runners, also making good
breaks on ball in outfield ... potential to steal 30+ bases
and hit 8-10 home runs ... could legitimately play at
any defensive position on the field ... named to the
Wallace Award Watch List, named preseason All-
American by Collegiate Baseball (second team),
Ping!Baseball.com (third team) and Recruiting
Closer.com (third team) ... listed as the 39th overall
prospect and 16th collegiate prospect for the 2009
MLB Draft by Baseball America ... ranked as the
seventh-best prospect from the Cape Cod League by
Baseball America following his Most Valuable Player
season for the Falmouth Commodores this past
summer ... led the league in hits (61), doubles (15) and
slugging percentage (.556) and ranked second in
batting average at .377 and extra-base hits with 20 ...
also ranked third in on-base percentage (.455) and runs
scored (35) ... started in center field as a West Division
All-Star, going 2-for-3 at the plate, including a solo
home run ... struggled in the 2008 Blue-Gold World
Series (went 1-for-10, R) as he battled a hamstring
injury ... hit at a .362 clip during his first two seasons
with the Irish, totaling 70 RBI in 109 games played
(107 starts, 88 runs, .490 slugging pct., 7 HR, 5 3B, 22
2B, .438 on-base pct., 56 BB, 7 HBP, 28 Ks, 13 sacrifice
bunts, 9 sacrifice flies, 39-of-44 SBs) ... a .353 career
hitter in BIG EAST regular-season games (72-for-204,
52 GP, 35 RBI, 39 R, 2 HR, 2 3B, 13 2B, 26 BB, 16
SB) ... could become the second ND player in history
to ever lead the team in batting for three consecutive
years.
SOPHOMORE SEASON (2008): Played center
field for much of 2007 fall practice, including in the
Blue-Gold World Series with Blue team (went 3-for-8,
2 RBI, 4 R, 2B, 3 BB, 2 SB) ... named all-BIG EAST
first team ... rated by Baseball America before '08 season
as league's second-best 2009 MLB prospect and best
pure hitter ... started 55 games for the Irish ... one of
three players and only returning one to start every
game last season ... batted .352 (76-for-216) with four
home runs and 42 RBI ... added 49 runs scored, 15
doubles, three triples, 24 walks, three sacrifice bunts,
seven sacrifice flies and 28 stolen bases ... led the team
in batting, hits (76), doubles (tied), total bases (109),
sacrifice flies, stolen bases, at bats (216), games played
(tied, 55) and games started (tied, 55) ... ranked second
on the squad in slugging percentage (.505), second in
runs scored, second in RBI, third in triples, third in onbase
percentage (.414) and tied for third in home runs
... became first Irish player to lead team in hitting,
stolen bases and strikeout ratio since Steve Stanley in
2002 ... two-time and back-to-back BIG EAST player
of the week (Apr. 14 and 21) ... ranked tied for fourth
in the BIG EAST in sacrifice flies, fourth in stolen bases
and 15th in hitting ... ranked 12th in the NCAA in
toughest to strikeout (21.7 at-bats per K), 33rd in the
NCAA in both total stolen bases (28) and stolen bases
per game (0.51) and 99th in the NCAA in sacrifice flies
... situationally, he led the team in batting with runners
in scoring position (.413), hitting with two outs (.397)
... ranked second on the team in batting versus righthanded
pitchers (.379), second in hitting with runners
on base (.336), third in batting with the bases empty
(.376), third in two-out RBI (19) and third in successful
advancing of runners (.471) ... also reached base when
leading off an inning nearly 62% of the time (19-for-
31) ... made only three errors in 121 fielding chances
(.975 fielding percentage) ... led the team in multiplehit
games (25, seven more than any other Irish player)
and tied for third in multi-RBI (nine) games ... had 16
two-hit games, six three-hit games and three four-hit
affairs ... had six games with two RBI and three games
with three RBI ... made 44 starts in center field and 11
starts in right field ... hit primarily in the #2 (11) and
#3 spots (44) in the lineup ... hit .320 in BIG EAST
regular-season games (33-for-103, 22 R, 21 RBI, HR,
6 2B, 13 BB, 3 HBP, 6 Ks, 8 SAC, 12 SB) ... ranked third
in BIG EAST games only in sacrifice flies (four) and
third in stolen bases (12) ... recorded individual singlegame
hits in at-bats (tied, 7 against USF on May 16),
runs scored (tied, 5 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee on
Mar. 26) and stolen bases (3, three different times) ...
opened the season batting in the two-hole over the first
11 games and batted just .298 (14-for-47) with three
extra-base hits and six RBI ... hit third the rest of the
season (44 games) and batted .367 (62-for-169) with 44
runs scored, 19 extra-base hits and 36 RBI ... opened
the season just 3-for-17 (.176) over his first four games,
but batted .367 (73-for-199) over the last 51 games ...
season highlights included the following games:went 4-
for-6 with two runs scored and RBI against Maine on
Mar. 4 ... stole three bases and went 2-for-5 with a
double and two RBI against St. Bonaventure on Mar. 2
... recorded back-to-back two-hit games against Texas
A&M (Mar. 7) and South Alabama (Mar. 8) ... went 4-
for-9 with a double, RBI and two runs scored in the
two games ... recorded a five-game hitting streak from
Mar. 14 (Buffalo) through Mar. 20 (Georgetown) ...
opened and closed the hitting streak with a pair of
three-hit games ... went 3-for-5 with a double, home
run (inside the park), run scored and two RBI against
Buffalo ... went 3-for-3 with a walk, two runs scored
and three RBI against Georgetown ... batting average
climbed to .413 on Apr. 15 ... over a 13-game stretch
between Mar. 26 and Apr. 15, registered nine multi-hit
games, including six outings with at least three hits ...
hit a robust .551 (27-for-49) with four doubles, three
triples, two home runs, 14 RBI and 22 runs scored over
the 13 games ... had four hits apiece against Wisconsin-
Milwaukee on Mar. 26 and Cincinnati on Mar. 30 ...
scored season-high five runs versus Wisconsin-
Milwaukee as well ... took a .400 batting average in the
month of May ... recorded five straight games with two
hits against West Virginia (Apr. 19 and 20), Chicago
State (Apr. 22), IPFW (Apr. 23) and St. John's (Apr. 25)
... added another multi-hit game (the sixth in seventh
games) against St. John's on Apr. 27 ... registered final
two multi-hit games on May 12 (Western Michigan)
and May 16 (USF) ... swiped a season-high tying three
bases against USF on May 15 ... picked up hits in 39 of
Notre Dame's 55 games.
FRESHMAN SEASON (2007): Named MVP of
the 2006 Blue-Gold World Series, with victorious Gold
(5-for-9, 5 RBI, 3 R, HR, 2B, sacrifice bunt, 2-2 SB, K,
0 Es; 2-run blast in clinching game-3, 8-3) ... capped
stellar debut season by earning third team all-BIG
EAST honors and being named a `07 Freshman All-
American by Collegiate Baseball and PingBaseball.com ...
fourth freshman ever to lead ND in batting avg. (.372),
third-best ever by an Irish freshman and best since Scott
Sollmann hit .404 in his `94 rookie season (Eric
Danapilis hit .429 as a freshman in `90) ... other
freshmen to lead ND in batting include Danapilis, Lilley
(.355; `05) and Pete Schmidt (.367; `71) ... finished
fourth on BIG EAST batting charts, trailing only senior
outfielders Dave Williams (Rutgers) and Isaiah Howes
(Louisville) and RU junior All-America shortstop Todd Frazier ... joined Louisville All-America CF Boomer
Whiting as only players in BIG EAST with 70-plus hits
(73), 30-plus walks (32), double-digit stolen bases (11)
and 10-plus sacrifice bunts (10) ... finished first (10) or
second (8) on `07 Irish in 18 categories - including
team-best batting, walks, SBs, total bases (93), hits (73,
tied with Lilley) and multi-hit games (26), while
ranking second in slugging (.474), on-base (.464), runs
(39) and sac. bunts ... led team in batting vs. LHPs
(.509) and with runners on base (.422)/in scoring
position (.406) ... his .308 batting with 2-outs was
second-best on team (tied for team-high in 2-out RBI,
with 11) ... finished second on `07 team in OPS (.938
on-base plus slugging), batting vs. RHPs (.322) and pct.
of runners advanced (61%), third in home runs (3),
triples (2) and multi-RBI games (8), fourth in RBI (28),
and fifth in doubles (7), HBPs (3) and leadoff on-base
pct. (.333) ... his +17 plate-discipline ratio (32 BB+ 3
HBP-18 Ks) trailed only Lilley's +30 ... compiled .904
fielding pct., with 19 errors (no Es over final 10 GP) ...
ranked among BIG EAST top-10 in overall batting
(4th), OB (7th), BB (9th) and sac. bunts (10th), also
fourth in league batting avg.(.386), third in hits (39)
and sixth in OB (.457) during conference action (his
other stats in BE games: 17 R, 14 RBI, HR, 3B, 7 2B,
13 BB, HBP, 11 Ks, 4 SAC, 4-6 SB) ... joined Louisville
LHP Justin Marks and SJU LF Kemp as only freshmen
named all-BIG EAST ... 10th ND freshman ever tabbed
all-BIG EAST (Lilley and Brant Ust are only other left
side infielders) ... made 47 of 52 starts at third base, plus
five early starts at first (March 3-12) ... hit 45 times in
2-hole, with handful of starts as #3 (2), #6 (3) and #7
(2) batter ... he and Lilley (.371) were one of league's
top hitting duos and made ND only team with both left
side infielders on all-BIG EAST team ... hit team-best
.484 in first inning (15-for-31, 8 R, 2 RBI, 2 2B, 8 BB,
K, 7 SAC) and team-leading .500 in third (15-30, 10 R,
4 RBI, HR, 3B, 2 2B, 5 BB, 2 SAC, GDP) ... batted .308
in Feb./March, .328 in April, team-best .400 in May ...
hit 110 points higher at home (.426, 24 R, 17 RBI, 16
BB, 2 HR, 3B, 5 2B, 2 HBP, 11 Ks, 4 SAC, 5-6 SB, 10
Es, 26 GP) than in all road games (.316) ... hit team's
first home run of season (in opener vs. Prairie View, in San Antonio) and added a single in second AB, but then
had five-game hit slump ... ended slump by batting 3-
for-4 (RBI, 3 R, BB) in 17-6 win over #7 Nebraska (at
Stetson) ... his top Spring Break games: 3-for-4 vs.
Duquesne (3 RBI, 2 R, SAC, SF; 14-3; in Clearwater)
and 4-for-9 in pair of wins over Dayton (2 RBI, 3 R,
BB, 2 SB; 11-4/5-2, at Florida Gulf Coast) ... fifth ND
freshman ever to post five-hit game (5-for-6 vs.
Western Michigan; 2 RBI, 2 R, solo HR; 17-9), with
others to do so including Lilley (`05), current fifth-year
catcher Sean Gaston (`04), Scott Sollmann (`94) and 1B
Joe Binkiewicz (`89) ... went a month (and later seven
weeks) without back-to-back hitless games ... had slow
.242 start in BIG EAST play (4-for-13 in USF series, 2-
for-7 at Pittsburgh, 2-for-13 at Cincinnati) but sizzled
over final six series - batting .456 (31-for-68) in that
18-game span, vs. Georgetown (5-12, RBI, 2 R, 2B, BB,
SAC),West Virginia (6-11, 6 RBI, 5 R, HR, 2 2B, 4 BB,
SB), Rutgers (5-12, 2 RBI, 2 R, 2 2B, BB, SB), Seton
Hall (6-12, 4 R, BB, SB), Louisville (3-8, RBI, 3 BB)
and UConn (6-13, 2 RBI, 3 R, 3B, 2 2B) ... had no
doubles in first 31 games but seven over final 25 GP
(plus nine game hit streak; April 28-May 12) ... his
strong series against WVU and midweek games vs.
Toledo and Purdue earned spot on BIG EAST weekly
honor roll for April 16-22 (8-for-19, 6 RBI, 7 R, HR,
2 2B, SB) ... helped Irish rally from 5-0 deficit to edge
Toledo, 8-7 (2-for-4, 2 R, BB) ... hit 3-for-3 with 6 RBI
in 17-6 win over WVU (3 R, 3-run HR, 2B, 3 BB) ...
made timely plays in 15-3 opener at Rutgers (2-for-5,
2 RBI, R, 2B, SAC) and thrilling 6-4 comeback in
series finale (2-for-3, R, 2B, BB, SB) ... went 3-for-4 in
6-4 win over SHU (2 R, SB) and closed regular season
vs. UConn with two of his eight 3-hit games, including
5-4 win that clinched postseason spot (3-for-4, RBI, 2
R, 3B) ... posted his first game with two doubles, in
regular-season finale vs. UConn (3-for-5, RBI, R) ...
named second team all-New England Collegiate
Baseball League in summer of `07, as centerfielder for
wood-bat Vermont Mountaineers ... led Mountaineers
in batting avg. (.348; 4th in league), doubles (15;
league-best), hits (47), runs (29; 5th in league) and
stolen bases (13-of-14) while ranking second in
slugging pct. (.481), third in RBI (20) and on-base pct.
(.419), and fourth in walks (17) ... also had a home run,
eight Ks and four errors in 37 games (35 starts) ...
helped Mountaineers win NECBL tournament (11-8,
3-0 final series vs. Newport Gulls).
PREP & PERSONAL: Capped stellar career as
four-year starting shortstop at RHAM HS by receiving
most votes ever for Gatorade player of the year in
Connecticut (since `74) ... tabbed by coaches association
for `06 state player of the year, after batting .462 as team
captain (4 HR, 27 RBI, 34 R, 15 SB; also 9 IP, 1.62
ERA, 17 Ks) ... also named RHAM 2006 athlete of the
year, team MVP and all-conference (played in senior
all-star game and Conn.-Mass. all-star game) ... led
team to conference titles in final three seasons ...
qualified for `05 Team One National Showcase (Las
Vegas) ... all-conference and all-state as a junior (.386,
15 RBI, 22 R, HR, 2 3B, 6 2B, 10 BB, 4 Ks, 6 SB, 20
GP) ... all-conference on `04 team that won regional
and state titles (.489, 18 R, 3 3B, 4 2B, 8 RBI, 6 BB, 2
Ks, 16 GP) ... team defensive player of the year in `03,
`04 and `05 ... first RHAM freshman ever to start at
shortstop (.317, 12 RBI, 2B, 9 R, 3 BB, K, 3 SB, 19 GP)
... `05 American Legion all-star and winner of Zone 7
Sportsmanship Award, after batting .464 with 31 RBI in
43 wood-bat games (4 HR, 4 3B, 18 2B, 28 R, 20 BB,
8 Ks, 32 SB) ... `04 American Legion all-star (.472, 17
RBI, 3 3B, 12 2B, 44 R, 18 BB, 3 Ks, 23 SB, 44 GP, 34-
10 record) ... youngest player selected for `03 American
Legion "Futures" all-stars (.418, 23 RBI, 46 GP, 3B, 9
2B, 26 R, 8 BB, 2 Ks, 17 SB) ... made top-10 list at `05
Team One East Showcase ... one of 17 all-time ND
baseball monogram winners from Connecticut, among
them P/OF Jean Dubuc (Waterbury) - a member of the
1918 Boston Red Sox (World Series champs) - and
RHP Chuck Symeon (Stamford/St. Basil's Prep), who
shut out Texas in the `57 College World Series, plus
recent record-setting RHP Alan Walania (Derby/Notre
Dame HS) ... inherited #4 jersey worn previously by SS
Greg Lopez ... played varsity soccer as freshman ...
member of National Honor Society... received academic
achievement awards ... plays the guitar ... volunteered at
`03-'05 Winter Special Olympics, `04 Summer Special
Olympics ... father Allen Pollock played rugby at
Boston College ... born Dec. 5, 1987 ... son of Allen and
Karen Pollock ... full name is Allen Lorenz Pollock ...
sociology major, in College of Arts and Letters ...
entered 2008 fall semester with 3.116 cumulative GPA
(3.53 in `07 fall term).
