#22 Jeff Palumbo Assistant Coach - Third Season with the Knightss One of the top young coaches on the East Coast, Jeff Palumbo is in his third season with the UCF baseball program. He provides his skills primarily with the UCF defense, but also assists with the hi ers and the program’s recrui ng efforts.
double plays in the regular season, which placed UCF among the top-10 clubs in the country for turning two.
and a .970 fielding percentage.
At the plate, the Knights ripped apart the record books as they set school and Conference USA records with a .343 batng average and a .435 on-base percentage. UCF also broke the program marks with 78 homers and a .538 slugging percentage. In all, it ranked in the NCAA top-30 in the regular season in average, runs, hits, doubles, homers and slugging.
Serving under 2008 Colonial Athle c Associa on Co-Head Coach of the Year Bill Brown, Palumbo guided Sco Krieger and Jus n Bour to All-CAA postseason honors in 2008. It was the third-straight year Krieger (.381, 21 HR, 60 RBI) was named to a postseason team, while Bour (.398, 15 HR, 65 RBI) earned a spot a er serving as a member of the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team in 2007.
And his reless journey into helping head coach Terry Rooney and associate head coach Cliff Godwin put together the 2010 recrui ng class paid off. The staff ’s first UCF class would be No. 4 in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s na onal poll, while it also would come in at No. 10 in the Baseball America poll. Those rankings were the highest in UCF baseball history.
Individually, Chris Duffy, a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, also set UCF and C-USA records with a .447 ba ng average while he joined Brown (.428) as the first duo to hit at least .400 in the same season in league history. The pair was honored with Louisville Slugger All-American and All-C-USA First Team accolades, and they both would be dra ed in the top 26 rounds of the 2010 MLB Dra .
Solidifying those rankings, the newcomers certainly played a major factor in guiding UCF to a 33-22 record in 2010. The Knights were the only team in the country to have five freshmen make at least 35 starts in the ba ng order, and Palumbo faced the challenge of having three of them on the infield. But under his tutelage, the Black and Gold put together a .963 fielding percentage, the second-highest by a UCF defense in the last five years. It also turned a school-record 61
Meanwhile, freshman Chris Taladay received the pres gious C-USA Freshman of the Year award, while he joined Ryan Breen as Louisville Slugger Freshman All-Americans. The accolades con nued to pour in, as a er the 2010 season UCF’s recrui ng class for the 2011 campaign was ranked No. 20 in the na on by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
THE PALUMBO FILE Born: March 6, 1982, in Cheverly, Md. High School: St. John’s College High School, Washington, D.C. College Educa on: George Mason, 2004; bachelor’s degree in administra on of jus ce Playing Career: Infielder - George Mason, 2001-04 Infielder - Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, 2004 Coaching Career: Assistant coach - George Mason, 2006-08 Assistant coach - UCF, 2008-Present
Krieger eventually broke Mason’s career home-run record with 49 in three campaigns, and went on to be selected to the ABCA All-East Region First Team. In 2007, Palumbo helped sluggers Chris Fournier and Jason Bour get taken in the MLB Dra . Palumbo did not travel far for his first coaching gig as he was one of George Mason’s all- me leading hi ers from 2001-04. He le the school holding the career records in hits (283), at-bats (865), games played (218) and games started (217). Palumbo also ranked in the top 10 in runs, stolen bases, total bases, RBI and walks.
The Knights’ lineup in 2009 featured 11 players with at least two home runs on a team that hit 68 dingers. It also was highlighted by four starters who had fielding percentages of .976 or better.
The two- me CAA Defensive Player of the Year was the league’s Student-Athlete of the Year and George Mason’s Male Student-Athlete of the Year during his senior season. That year, he led the na on in runs scored per game with a 1.4 average and held a .402 ba ng average, li ing the Patriots to an at-large spot in the NCAA Tournament. He later would be dra ed in the 15th round by the San Francisco Giants.
Meanwhile, four posi on players racked up CUSA postseason honors with Brandon Romans and Shane Brown voted onto the second team, and Beau Taylor and D.J. Hicks earning spots on the freshman team.
His efforts with George Mason eventually led Palumbo to be named to the CAA Silver Anniversary Team, which was announced in 2010. The squad featured 10 CAA Players of the Year, 17 All-Americans and 11 former or current Major League Baseball players.
Palumbo spent three seasons at George Mason where he was the recrui ng coordinator and hitng coach, as well as the leader of the infield defense. The Patriots went 30-25 in 2008 and had a .311 team ba ng average with 63 homers
Palumbo and his wife, Sarah, were married in December of 2009.
#8 Brandon Romans Volunteer Asst. Coach - Second Season with the Knights ghts A er a stellar playing career at UCF, Brandon Romans joined the staff as the volunteer assistant coach in the spring of 2010. A na ve of Cocoa, Fla., Romans played three seasons with the Black and Gold, hi ng .314 for his career with 17 home runs and 77 RBI. In year one with Romans assis ng the ou ield and the catchers, the Knights’ offense ranked as one of the best in the
10
2011 UCF Baseball Yearbook
country in 2010. Ou ielders Chris Duffy (.447) and Shane Brown (.428) would become the first duo in C-USA history to hit .400 in the same season as they went on to earn spots on the All-C-USA First Team. And freshman center fielder Ronnie Richardson shined as well, leading all C-USA freshmen with a .448 on-base percentage.
Behind the plate, catchers Beau Taylor, Chris Taladay and Ryan Breen would each start at least 39 games for the Knights. Taylor boasted a .354 average and a .986 fielding percentage, Taladay served as the every day third baseman en route to being voted as the C-USA Freshman of the Year, and Breen hit .348 while swiping 11 bases as the primary designated hi er.
THE ROMANS FILE Born: Aug. 28, 1985, in Port St. John, Fla. High School: Cocoa High School College Educa on: UCF, 2009; bachelor’s degree in interpersonal and organiza onal communica ons Playing Career: Catcher - Birmingham-Southern, 2004-05 Catcher/Ou ielder - UCF, 2006-09 Catcher/Ou ielder - Rockford RiverHawks (Fron er League), 2009 Coaching Career: Volunteer assistant coach - UCF, 2010-Present