Lazar plays through injury

Mountain View graduate now at U. of Md. has ‘love of the game’

STAFFORD — It was a good news and bad news sort of baseball season for Curtis Lazar, a sophomore at the University of Maryland.

The good news was his playing time nearly doubled from a year ago, as he had 60 at bats for the Terps this year after getting to the plate 33 official times as a freshman.

But Lazar, a graduate of Mountain View High School in Stafford, saw his batting average drop from .394 to .217 in his second season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

"I didn't have a very good season at all," said Lazar, who had 13 hits in 28 games (16 starts) with one steal, seven RBI, 10 walks and 12 strikeouts.

Lazar played first base and designated hitter for Maryland, which failed to qualify for the ACC tournament that was held in late May in Durham, N.C.

"My role was to be an RBI guy if I wasn't starting," said Lazar. And that meant coming off the bench as a pinch-hitter late in the game with runners on base.

Lazar, a standout student and kinesiolgy major, does not like to make excuses. But he was injured in the third game of the season, on Feb. 22 in a 7-4 loss at UNC-Wilmington.

The Stafford resident was playing first base that day (he ended up with 12 putouts) when a UNC-Wilmington player bunted the ball. Lazar stretched to grab the throw and the Seahawk runner ran into his left arm.

"It was sore but I finished the game," he said.

In fact he finished the season, even though the play caused Lazar to tear some ligaments in his left arm.

"I didn't know how bad it was," Lazar said.

He played through the injury and finished out the year with the Terps, which did not qualify for the ACC tourney held in late May in North Carolina. Lazar plans to have surgery on the arm in June under the guidance of Dr. Frank Pettrone, voted a top doctor by Northern Virginia Magazine in 2007 and 2008. He has worked with athletes at George Mason University, D.C. United and baseball's Prince William Pirates and performed surgery on Lazar's right arm when he was in high school.

The recovery from the surgery means Lazar most likely will miss playing summer ball. But Mark Russo, the general manager/head coach for the Maryland Redbirds of the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate League, told Lazar he can work out with this summer if he wants to.

"He said I am more than welcome to hang out with the team," said Lazar, who hopes to be ready for fall practice at Maryland.

Last summer Lazar, the son of William and Teresa Lazar, played for the Watertown (N.Y.) Wizards in the New York Collegiate Baseball League.

Off the field Lazar is very involved at Maryland as a student leader with Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In high school he was a member of the National Honor Society and graduated Summa Cum Laude.

He was also recruited by Navy, Elon, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Campbell.

David Driver is a contributing writer for the Stafford County Sun. Reach him at info@staffordcountysun.com.