Former Monarch Justin Verlander Helped Houston Astros to World Series Win
February 05, 2018
Justin Verlandet was inducted into the ODU Sports hall of Fame and his jersey retired.
Former Monarchs ace Justin Verlander finally got it - a World Series ring.
Verlander, acquired by the Astros on Aug. 31, helped propel Houston to the series with five straight wins during the season and a stingy 1.06 ERA. He added four more victories in postseason play. His only loss with the Astros was in the second game he pitched in the series. But even in that one, he gave up only two runs and three hits in six innings, struck out nine and walked no one. And the Saturday after the series, he married model Kate Upton. Not a bad two months at all.
To see more of Justin's trip to the championship, visit: http://www.odusports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31100&ATCLID=211675069
Justin Verlander was the all-time strikeout king in ODU, CAA and the Commonwealth of Virginia history with 427 strikeouts in 335.2 innings. The three-time All CAA selection was an ABCA Coaches freshman All-American and Collegiate baseball honorable mention All-American. Justin struckout 17 batters against JMU twice in 2002 and 2004 and also fanned 16 against VCU in 2004.
He pitched for Team USA in the 2003 Pan Am games and was a finalist for the Roger Clemens National Pitcher of the Year award. The 2004 ODU Alumni Association's Male Athlete of the year was the second overall pick in the 2004 Major League Baseball draft by the Detroit Tigers. Since then Verlander, who has thrown two no-hitters thus far was a unanimous choice for the American League Cy Young award, a four-time all-star and last year was named the American League's Most Valuable Player.
Verlander was inducted into the ODU Sports Hall of Fame on Oct. 13th, 2012, and his jersey was retired in 2010.