With each passing season, Gerard Haran has continued to lay claim to new TCNJ feats. In three seasons with the Lions, he has already managed to rewrite several single-season and career records and with his junior season, became the first Lion baseball player to earn ABCA National Division III Player of the Year honors.
He is coming off a tremendous 2006 campaign that saw the talented catcher earn Player of the Year honors from six different organizations, the NJAC, the NJCBA, the ECAC, the ABCA Atlantic Region, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association NCAA Division III “Position Player of the Year,” and the Rawlings/ABCA National Player of the Year. In January of 2007, he will be honored by the NJ Sports Writers Association as the Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year.
He finished the 2006 season with 14 homeruns, elevating his career record to 35, a running school mark. He was named the Player of the Week by the NJAC, the NJCBA and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association over the course of the spring and was the only repeat selection for the NCBWA during the year. He finished with a .415 average with 64 runs, 71 hits, 21 doubles, and 64 RBI’s. He has also been hit by a pitch 17 times, another Lion record and finished with an .807 slugging percentage for the 2006 season.
Nationally his numbers were among many of the top performances in Division III as he ranked tenth in homeruns per game (0.30), seventh in runs scored per game (1.39), eighth in slugging percentage and 30th in doubles per game (0.46).
As a sophomore, he was selected to the 2005 ABCA All-American First Team after breaking school records for most homeruns (15) and RBI’s (74) in a single-season. The 2005 NJCBA Division II/III Player of the Year, Haran batted .386 on the season in 47 games started. He had a .743 slugging percentage with a .488 on-base percentage in 2005 and was named to the ECAC Division III Metro First Team, the 2005 NJAC All-Star Second Team and the Mid-Atlantic Regional NCAA Division III All-America Team First Team as a catcher.
His numbers during the 2005 season rank as well among many of the top single-season efforts as well at TCNJ as his 50 runs scored and 66 hits both rank ninth, while his 16 doubles ranks sixth as well. He finished the season ranked third nationally with his 1.57 RBI’s per game average and was 22nd in Division III with his slugging percentage. His 15 homeruns (0.32 per game) ranked 15th nationally as well. Twice during the 2005 season, he was named the NJAC’s Player of the Week, while also earning two ECAC Player of the Week selections and an additional pair of selections as the NJCBA Player of the Week.
As a newcomer to the lineup in 2004, Haran adjusted to the collegiate game with great ease and by season’s end had wrapped up Rookie of the Year honors from both the NJAC and the NJBCA. He finished the season batting .333 with a .596 slugging percentage. He led the Lions with his six homeruns and added 24 RBI’s on his rookie campaign while batting cleanup for the Lions. The Lions’ everyday catcher as a rookie, he also threw out 15 runners and held the opposition to .651 stolen base percentage when behind the plate.
He earned NJAC Rookie of the Week honors on March 28 after batting .500 for the previous week. He added the game-winning run in an extra innings game against Wilmington in the 10th inning off the bench.
On his career, Haran now has a .385 career batting average with 170 hits, 139 runs scored, 45 doubles, 162 RBI’s and a .735 career slugging percentage in 121 games played the past three seasons.
During the summer of 2006, Haran played for the New Market Rebels in the Valley Baseball League and earned all-league honors as the only Division III player recognized of the league’s 16 all-stars.
A three-sport athlete at Old Bridge High School, he earned eight varsity letters while playing football, basketball and baseball. Team captain of both the football and baseball teams there, he was also cited as the Player of the Year in the conference and earned team MVP honors as well as all-county and all-division status.
He is an English major at TCNJ and is a former Honor Roll student.
Career Stats
Year Avg GP-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB SLG% BB HBP SO GDP OB% SF SH SB-ATT PO A E FLD%
2004.... .333 28-25 99 25 33 8 0 6 24 59 .596 6 7 15 1 .400 3 2 0-0 192 36 4 .983
2005.... .386 47-47 171 50 66 16 0 15 74 127 .743 26 13 32 4 .488 5 0 0-1 326 28 6 .983
2006.... .415 46-46 171 64 71 21 2 14 64 138 .807 36 17 18 0 .541 5 0 2-2 225 26 3 .988
TOTAL... .385 121-118 441 139 170 45 2 35 162 324 .735 68 37 65 5 .492 13 2 2-3 743 90 13 .985
Read more about Gerard at the following links.
http://allthingsvalleyleague.typepad.com/all_things_valley_league/
http://www.gothambaseball.com/news/1172166586.php
