The hits just kept on coming Howard has a recor- breaking season for Rollins baseball

The Nahant native needed three hits in Rollins (Fla.) College's season-ending doubleheader against Eckerd to break the school record for hits in a season. He did so easily, rapping out five base hits — then adding two more in the nightcap to finish with 96 on the season.

In doing so, the 6-foot-4, 205-pound third baseman lifted his final batting average .426 — another Tars' single-season record. Howard topped the old mark set in 2001 by Jason Cloar (.421).

"It was a fun year," said Howard, who is moving to Washington D.C., where he has some job interviews lined up and is also thinking about going to law school after getting a degree in political science.

"It was disappointing to end the year out of the playoffs (at 29-24-1) — that's the main reason I came back to school, not looking to break any records. I was hoping to go to the Regionals one more time; I thought we had the talent to do it."

Howard capped his career with First-Team Sunshine State Conference Honors and made the 2008 Daktronics All-South Region Second Team. It was Howard's third career All-SSC selection at the Winter Park, Fla. school.

He etched his name in the record books in several categories, leading the Tars in batting average, on-base percentage (.488), hits and doubles (17). The former Swampscott High star is ranked second in the program's history in career batting average (. 379), seventh in hits (245), sixth in doubles (49), 17th in RBIs (124), 12th in slugging percentage (. 528), 10th in total bases (341), and 10th in extra base hits (66).

In his final week of college ball, Howard was named the SSC's Player of the Week after hitting .650 (13-for-20) with four multi-hit games, eight runs scored, two home runs, five RBIs and slugging percentage of 1.050.

The 23-year-old Howard started the month of May second in the SSC in hitting, but his late surge gave him the first conference batting title for a Rollins player since Cloar won it in 2003 with a . 414 average.

He climbed above . 400 on Feb. 26 and stayed over . 400 the rest of the season with a 19-game hitting streak, during which he hit . 452 with six doubles, two homers and 12 RBIs. He led the Tars with 30 multiple hit games and twice collected five in a contest.

The Northeastern Conference MVP at Swampscott in 2003, Howard was a versatile player for the Tars for much of his career. He played first base, right field and left field in addition to third base. He was even a valuable member of the team's bullpen before rotator cuff and labrum injuries ended his pitching career last season.

For his college career, he appeared in 54 games on the mound with a 5-6 record, 14 saves and 91 strikeouts in 782/3 innings.

After an outstanding junior year at Rollins, Howard had hoped to get drafted and was invited to go to pre-draft workouts with the Florida Marlins.

"All the real big-name college and high school players were flown in (that day)," said Howard. "I really got my hopes up, and it was a big disappointment not to be selected. My shoulder was already messed up, and I couldn't pass the physicals.

"I thought about playing through the pain my senior year (in 2007), but it got so bad I couldn't lift a fork to my mouth. The injuries were affecting my biceps, too, and I knew I had to get it fixed. I had major shoulder surgery — everything was reconstructed."

Howard began getting calls from the Colorado Rockies, and two weeks ago went for a workout with the team.

"My age is becoming a factor," he said. "Two years ago when (getting drafted) didn't happen, I vowed not to get my hopes up again. We'll see what happens this time.

"But either way, I had a lot of fun playing college baseball and have no regrets."

2008 — Breaks school records for most hits and batting average in single season; First team All-Sunshine State Conference; Second Team All-South Region

2006 — First Team All-SSC third baseman, started all 55 games and hit .384

2005 — Hit .340 with 22 RBIs and was 4-0 on mound with six saves out of bullpen

Photos

Former Swampscott High star Gene Howard of Nahant broke the Rollins College single-season record for hits (95) and batting average (.426) this season.