TGIF Mason Nation. Not only did you make it to Friday, but man, are we jammed with great stuff from our Patriots!

National recognition, state recognition, heck, even pro recognition! We’ve got it all going on!

What all is stirring in today’s Brew? You don’t want to miss!

🌠 Power Pair
⚾️ New York State of Mind
🧢 Head of State
​⭐ And much, much more!

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Power Pair. When you talk about ambassadors, there’s no one better to represent the Green and Gold than these two Patriots.

This week, Annabelle Eastman and Aly Rayle were both announced by the Atlantic 10 Conference as nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. They were two of just 17 student-athlete nominees from the Atlantic 10.

The 17 institutional nominees have been recognized for their leadership skills, their academic prowess, exceptional athletic success and for their community service. The candidates have noteworthy credentials, garnering All-Conference awards, postseason championship participation and national and A-10 academic honors.

One of the most prestigious NCAA awards, the NCAA established the Woman of the Year Award in 1991 to celebrate the achievements of women in intercollegiate athletics.

Now in its 33rd year, the NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

🔼 New York State Of Mind. He may not be allowed back in his hometown, but for Ben Shields, it doesn’t really matter.

The Boston, Mass. native and Patriots southpaw signed a free agent contract with the New York Yankees this week.

He is now the fourth player in program history to sign with the Yankees.

This past spring, he was an all-conference selection after leading the team in starts, strikeouts and tied for first in wins. He ranked in the top-30 nationally in strikeouts.

He helped Mason earn the 2023 A-10 Championship and its first regional final berth as well.

🔼 Head Of State. Coming off that A-10 Championship and Regional final berth, the Patriots earned plenty of recognition for its play on the diamond this spring.

Chad Gartland, Ben Shields and South Trimble were all honored with All-State accolades this week. Gartland was named to the first team, while Shields and Trimble held down spots on the second team.

Gartland, a native of Rochester, N.Y., finished the season with a 7-2 record and 3.39 ERA in 17 appearances with 13 starts. He was named Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year and A-10 First Team All-Conference.
 
Shields, From Boston, Mass., finished the season with a 7-4 record and 4.69 ERA in 17 appearances with 16 starts. Selected Atlantic 10 Second Team All-Conference pitcher, Shields led the team in starts (16) and strikeouts (107), tied for first in wins (7) and ranked second in innings pitched (80.2). Nationally, he tied for 30th in the NCAA in strikeouts (107). Shields pitched at least 5.0 innings in 11 of his 16 starts.

Trimble, a native of Virginia Beach, Va., started all 62 games for the Patriots including the post-season. He finished the season with a .335 batting average and led the club in at-bats (236), hits (79), runs scored (61), walks (36) and stolen bases (30), was second in doubles (17) and fourth in RBI (38). He recorded at least one hit in 47 games and posted 24 multi-hit games during the season.
 
The 2023 All-State Team has nine of the Commonwealth's 14 NCAA Division I schools represented. The University of Virginia led the Commonwealth with nine All-State honorees, followed by Old Dominion and Virginia Military Institute (4), and George Mason, Virginia Tech, William & Mary all had three selections.

🔼 Miller Time. A gem was found by the Patriots back in 2017 in a little town in Northwest Virginia, in the small town of Louden Valley.

In his three seasons at George Mason, Jordan Miller showed off his athleticism, versatility and skill. He played in 68 games, starting 65 of those contests and helping the Patriots to a 48-39 record during that stretch.

He amassed 886 points for an average of 13.0 ppg, while grabbing 405 rebounds (6.0 rpg) and swiping 67 steals. He earned All-Atlantic 10 accolades during his final season in Fairfax, before finishing his career at the University of Miami.

Now? He’s taking that skill that was discovered by Mason to the biggest stage, the NBA.

As a second round selection of the Los Angeles Clippers, Miller is part of their Summer League team and in two games is averaging 9.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg and 3.0 apg while playing 24 minutes a game.

🌠 THE LEWIS ERA

The Dawn Of A New Era. July 1st officially started a new era of George Mason Athletics.

That was the day that Marvin Lewis, a former star collegiate student-athlete himself, officially took over the reins as the Athletic Director.

Energy, excitement and hard work are just some of what Marvin brings to the table. We can’t wait to see what the future has in store!

🤔 PATRIOT TRIVIA

Back, back, back, back, back… GONE! This week was the MLB HR Derby with stars from all over the league watching in amazement as the best sluggers in the game put on a show for the ages.

Do you know the only Patriot to take on the HR Derby at the All-Star game?

Think you got it?

Scroll on down to the bottom of this email for the answer!

📬 STICK WITH US

Did someone send you the Patriot Brew? Well, the first thing you should do is thank them. The next thing you should do is subscribe here and get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning just in time for your first cup of coffee!

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Justin Bour.

Of course it’s the basher, Justin Bour. We figured this might be an easy one to toss your way to end the week.

Facing one of the best sluggers the game has ever seen (Aaron Judge), Bour had a daunting challenge in front of him back in 2017, but he put on a show for the Marlins fan in attendance, blasting 22 first round HRs.

Judge would eventual move on and win the entire contest, but not without getting a challenge from our guy.

Have a great Friday, y’all!