GCSU Names Carty Head Baseball Coach

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – The Georgia College & State University department of athletics and director Stan Aldridge has announced the promotion of Tom Carty to interim head baseball coach for the 2008 season. Carty has served as assistant coach for the Bobcats during the past two seasons.

“We were lucky to have someone as qualified as Tom as our assistant baseball coach,” said Aldridge. “I believe the baseball players are happy with the transition and respect him for what he has accomplished as our assistant. The athletics staff certainly supportive and I am convinced he will do an excellent job with the entire baseball program.”

While Carty has been with the program, the Bobcats own an amazing 99-28 (.780) mark, the first two Peach Belt Conference Championships in school history and a pair of trips to the NCAA South Atlantic Regional Tournament.

Carty served primarily as pitching coach, helping produce a pair of All-America honors from Michael Antonini. He joined fellow pitcher Andy Reichard as Major League Baseball draftees in 2007, Reichard in the 13th round to the San Francisco Giants, and Antonini to the New York Mets in round 18. Add in Chrisitan Castorri, and a total of three pitchers that have worked with Carty at GCSU are active in the major leagues.

As recruiting coordinator, Carty helped bring in solid classes in each of his two years, including multiple players who were drafted before committing to GCSU.

The GCSU pitching staff was at an all-time high in 2006, compiling a school-best 2.82 ERA with 437 strikeouts, the third-best total by GCSU hurlers. Add to that a 3.53 ERA, 408 strikeouts and four shutouts in 2007, and one can see the strong impact Carty has had on the Bobcat arms.

In the summer of 2006, he served as head coach of the USA Athletes International Team that won a gold medal in Oldenzaal, the Netherlands.

“I want to first thank Dr. Aldridge and the administrative staff at Georgia College for having the confidence in me to lead this proud baseball program,” Carty said. “I also want to thank Coach Chris Calciano for giving me the opportunity to work with him and develop my coaching skills. I am proud of what we were able to accomplish as a program the last two years and I look forward to continuing the success of Coach Calciano, Coach Mrowka and Coach Kurtz. This is a great honor and I look forward to leading our young men both on and off the field.”

Prior to GCSU, Carty spent four seasons as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for Division I Marshall University, then a member of the Mid-American Conference. While there he helped the Thundering Herd pitching staff break many school single season records.

Carty also spent one year at North Carolina State University where he was the director of baseball operations and served the summer of 2001 as the pitching coach for the Delaware Valley Gulls of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League. Carty spent two years as an assistant coach at West Chester University in Pennsylvania in 1999 and 2000 and also held coaching assignments at Delaware Valley College and Montgomery County Community College prior to that.

Carty graduated with a degree in History from Gwynedd-Mercy College in Pennsylvania in 1996. He is originally from Norristown, Pa.

He replaces three-year head coach Calciano, who left to take a new position as a scout in the Boston Red Sox organization.

Carty assumes the reigns at the end of October, and the GCSU head coach position will be filled with a national search at the end of the upcoming 2008 season. The Bobcats are currently taking resumes for the vacant assistant coach spot.

The GCSU Department of Athletics sponsors 10 NCAA Division II athletic programs over three seasons. As a Division II program, GCSU prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the Bobcats’ multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Follow the Bobcats and their positive impact on the Milledgeville community at www.gcsu.edu/bobcats.