STANDISH, ME - The Saint Joseph's College baseball program will host the Eighth Annual Hot Stove Auction on Sunday, January 15th at 1:30 PM in the SJC Dining Hall. Seattle Mariners pitcher Charlie Furbush, who pitched for the Monks during the 2005 and 2006 campaigns, will make an appearance at this year's event, which is free for all to attend.
Furbush has agreed to be the keynote speaker at the event and will be signing autographs for a designated time period. Pre-approved items for the signing of autographs will be on hand - fans are asked not to bring outside memorabilia as such items will not be signed.
Head Coach Will Sanborn '86 will kick off the event with a preview of the season and desserts and refreshments will be served throughout the day. Many appealing auction items will be available for bidding, including tickets for sporting events, memorabilia, golf outings and much, much more.
All proceeds from the raffles, silent auction and live auction will go towards the cost of the Monks' spring trip to Winter Haven, Florida.
Furbush was called up by the Detroit Tigers, the team that drafted him in the fourth round of the 2007 First Year Player Draft, on May 21st of last season and earned the victory with 3.2 innings of scoreless relief against the Tampa Bay Rays in his first MLB appearance three days later. He closed out the season with the Seattle Mariners and pitched in 28 games, including 12 starts, with a 4-10 record and a 5.48 ERA to go with 67 strikeouts and 30 walks in 85.1 innings in 2011.
Many players may not endure in an entire career what Furbush experienced in his first major league season. Called up on May 24th, the southpaw went on to work out of the bullpen in several capacities - long relief, short relief and lefthanded specialist. Furbush did not allow a run in his first three appearances with 10 K's and just four hits allowed in nine innings out of the bullpen. Included in this stretch was a spotless five-inning stint during which he fanned six against the Boston Red Sox on May 27th.
He made his first MLB start against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on July 4th and earned one more starting nod before a brief demotion to Triple-A Toledo. Furbush was called up again on July 20th and registered three solid relief appearances for the Tigers before being dealt to Seattle in a six-player trade-deadline deal on July 31st.
After one relief appearance, Furbush was inserted into Seattle's starting rotation and made a statement by not allowing a baserunner through 4.1 frames in a victory over the Oakland Athletics in what was his first start for the Mariners on August 3rd. He remained in the team's starting rotation for the remainder of the season and showed flashes of dominance, including perhaps his most impressive outing on August 14th. That day he tossed seven strong innings with one run and four hits allowed and six K's in a 5-3 win over his boyhood team, the Red Sox.
Recruited to come to St. Joe's out of South Portland High School by Coach Sanborn, Furbush was a two-way player for the Monks for two seasons before transferring to NCAA DI powerhouse Louisiana State University for the 2007 season. In two years at St. Joe's, Furbush went 17-2 and notched a 2.38 ERA, a 0.95 WHIP and an astounding 12.2 K/9 ratio with 185 K's and just 33 walks in 136.1 innings.
As a sophomore, Furbush earned ABCA Second Team All-America, First Team All-NAC, NAC Player of the Year, NEIBA All-New England and NCBWA New England Pitcher of the Year honors. That year he went 10-1 with a 2.89 ERA, recorded a program-record 115 strikeouts in 74.2 innings, and led all of NCAA DIII Baseball with a 13.9 K/9 rate - a mark that ranked second in all of NCAA Baseball behind just one pitcher: Washington's Tim Lincecum, the two-time Cy Young Award winner for the 2010 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants.
As one of the Monks' top hitters, Furbush hit .340 (83-244) with 54 runs, 14 doubles, three home runs and 50 RBI over two seasons.
He currently owns the program's career records for ERA (2.38), K/9 rate (12.2) and WHIP (0.95) and set single-season records for wins (10), strikeouts (115) and K/9 (13.9). Furbush helped lead the St. Joe's baseball program to it's first-ever NCAA DIII Tournament appearance in 2006 and registered a victory against Bowdoin in his only tourney start.
Join alumni, parents, family and friends for an afternoon of baseball banter and competitive bidding as the Monks prepare for the 2012 campaign!!
Visit our Facebook Event Page to see who plans on attending, add comments and invite more friends - this event is free and open to all!!
In the case of inclement weather, the event will be moved to the following afternoon at 1:30 PM in the SJC Dining Hall.
For more information, please contact Head Coach Will Sanborn at (207) 893-6675 or email wsanborn@sjcme.edu.
