Phil Ross - 1985 Season Statistics

1985 Season Statistics

In the highly competitive Division II Sunshine State Conference, in which Saint Leo played, Ross was the first player to win the triple crown (Batting Average, HRs, and RBIs). The Sunshine State Conference has had 14 NCAA Division II College World Series champions since 1968.

Ross’ performance in 1985 earned him 1st Team All-Sunshine State Conference, 1st Team All-South, and 1st Team All-American (the only unanimous choice that year).

His excellence was remarkable in that the prior season for Saint Leo he hit .313 with only 8 HRs and 38 RBIs in 59 games (he was 2nd Team All-Conference at 1st Base). His turnaround was largely attributable to first-year Saint Leo head baseball coach and legendary Major League Baseball pitcher Mike Marshall (baseball pitcher). Marshall trusted on Ross team captain responsibility and made numerous refinements to his batting stance and swing.

At 6’2” and 215 lbs. Ross was an imposing and strong figure. Marshall, who played Major League Baseball from 1967–81, commented that “there was only one player stronger than Ross” he had ever seen or played against; and “it was Willie Stargell.”

Of Ross’ 22 HRs, 16 were with men on base, 3 were leadoff solo HRs. He hit 2 HRs in a game 3 times. His slugging percentage was .962; his on-base percentage was .645. He had 53 walks in 50 games. In the 19 games in which he hit his 22 HRs, his batting average was .623 with 67 RBIs (3.5 RBI per game).

He only struck out 15 times in 248 plate appearances (an average of 6 strikeouts per 100 plate appearances). He scored 79 times, 1.58 times per game.

As a first baseman Ross was near perfect. The left-hander made only 6 errors in 516 total plays for a .988 fielding percentage.