University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Shortstop Brian Dozier to Miss Remainder of Season
4/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 15, 2009
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss baseball team will be forced to play the rest of the season without one of the top shortstops in the nation as Brian Dozier will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a fractured clavicle (collar bone).
"This is a tough loss for our team but I really feel bad for Brian on a personal level, he has given everything he has to this program over the last four years and I hate to see his career at Southern Miss come to an end like this," head coach Corky Palmer said. "He will go down as one of the top players to ever play at Southern Miss and the best defensive player I have coached in 32 years."
Dozier injured his shoulder, Tuesday night, against Jackson State on a play that is typical of the senior from Fulton, Miss. On a ball most players would not have the range to get, Dozier went into shallow left field to snag a ground ball, giving a maximum effort even though Southern Miss had a comfortable 12-1 lead at the time. As he corralled the soft roller he fell on his shoulder, driving it into the turf and suffering the injury.
Dozier will go down as one of the best players to ever wear the black and gold uniform in his brilliant four-year career. He has been a starter since the day he stepped on campus in 2006, starting 221 of the team's 223 games in the middle of the diamond. He missed one start in 2007 to attend a family funeral and one start as a freshman in 2006. His streak of 131 consecutive games started will come to an end this weekend. Over the streak, he missed only five out of 867 innings the team has played.
Dozier entered the 2009 season as the NCAA active career hit leader and two weekends ago he became only the second player in school history to reach the 300-hit mark, as his singled up the middle against Marshall. He will end his career with 307 hits which places him second all-time. He was on pace to break Trey Sutton's school record of 327 hits, which was set last season.
The Golden Eagle record book will reflect the magnificent career Dozier put together as he will finish second in career hits (307), second in career singles (229), tied for sixth in career doubles (55), sixth in career runs (185), seventh in total at-bats (863) and seventh in total bases (424).
The shortstop was in the middle of his best campaign as a Golden Eagle hitting .394 this season (54-137) with 13 doubles, a triple and four home runs. He drove in 39 runs and scored 44 with a .591 slugging percentage and a.491 on base percentage.
While he was impressive at the plate, most will remember Dozier for the Houdini acts pulled off from his shortstop position over the past four years. He recorded 332 putouts and 726 assists over his career.
-southermiss.com-
