George Capen enters his third season as a member of Holy Cross baseball coaching staff and his first season as recruiting coordinator and assistant in 2019-2020. He will serve as a pitching coach for the Crusaders following two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach and a successful four-year career at Holy Cross.
As a volunteer in 2019, Capen helped guide the Crusader staff to new heights, including developing All-Patriot League first team selections Declan Cronin and Liam Dvorak – the first time in program history that Holy Cross has had two starting pitchers named All-Patriot League first team. The Crusaders ranked second in the Patriot League in conference ERA (3.74) and were the only team to have three different pitchers earn Patriot League Pitcher of the Week honors (Cronin, Dvorak and Pat McGowan). With 383 strikeouts, the team tallied the second-most strikeouts in program history, including 83 from Dvorak, the most by a pitcher in a single season since 1925. Following the season, Cronin was selected in the 36th round of the 2019 MLB Draft by the Chicago White Sox.
During his playing career, Capen was a standout reliever for Holy Cross for four seasons, finishing his career with the most pitching appearances in school history with 99. He also ranks seventh all-time in career saves with five and held a career record of 14-5 on the mound – the most wins by a relief pitcher in program history – including a 7-1 record during his senior year. In 2017, Capen earned wins in the final game of the Patriot League Championship and the Crusaders’ win over No. 25 Nebraska in the NCAA Tournament, and also made an appearance in the first game of the NCAA Tournament against No. 1 Oregon State.
Capen was an All-Patriot League selection and earned the team’s Perry Conlon Award as Holy Cross’ Most Outstanding Pitcher in 2017. Over the course of his career, Capen posted a 3.98 ERA in 167.1 innings pitched, including a 3.15 ERA in 2016.
Upon graduation, Capen signed a professional contract with the Seattle Mariners in 2017. He played with the team's Arizona League affiliate in Peoria in his first pro season. After spending 2018 Spring Training with the Mariners, Capen had a brief stint with the Southern Illinois Miners of the Frontier League before returning to The Hill to join the Holy Cross baseball coaching staff.
In summer league play, Capen spent two seasons with the Ocean State Waves, posting a 2.53 ERA in 2015 and 2.08 ERA in 2016. He was named the first-ever captain for the Waves in 2016 and would go on to set an organization record with 33 career pitching appearances. Following his successful stint Ocean State in 2016, he joined the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League for the remainder of the summer, not allowing any earned runs in 8.1 innings. He returned to Ocean State as an assistant and pitching coach in the summer of 2017.
During his senior year at Holy Cross, Capen also played one varsity season of soccer as a goalkeeper for the Crusaders. He received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Holy Cross in 2017.
