Eastern Connecticut State University

Eugene Julien was a versatile player who was a fulltime starter at three different positions and a sophomore shortstop on the 2002 NCAA Division III national championship team.
 
The 5-foot-9 inch, 160-pound right-handed batter hit with power (58 career extra-base hits) and for average (.346) and possessed above average speed (currently ranks second all-time in steals, sixth in runs and seventh in triples). Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Julien played full seasons as the regular shortstop (2002), leftfielder (2003) and second baseman (2004) at Eastern after playing middle infield as a freshman alongside first-team All-America senior shortstop and Brockton, MA hometown teammate Nick Tempesta in 2001.
 
Julien joined a program steeped in success (three NCAA national championships and seven NCAA regional titles) in 2001 under Hall of Fame coach Bill Holowaty and helped enhance that tradition of excellence as the Warriors qualified for NCAA tournament play each season in Julien’s career, won three straight regional championships (the only time in program history that has been done), three Little East Conference regular-season and three LEC tournament titles and their  fourth national championship. In that four-year stretch, Eastern averaged 41 wins per season, captured 78 percent of its 207 games, was 10-5 in the NCAA nationals, 16-3 in the NCAA regionals, 50-6 in LEC regular-season play and 12-4 in LEC tournament competition.
 
Julien earned no less than nine major regional and conference awards in his career. At second base as a senior, he was named first-team ABCA All-New England Region, second-team ECAC All-New England,  second-team All-LEC and as the Most Outstanding Player of the LEC tournament; as a junior outfielder, he was voted second-team ABCA All-New England Region, second-team ECAC All-New England and first-team All-LEC; as a sophomore shortstop, he was named first-team All-LEC, and as a freshman second baseman, was chosen as LEC Rookie-of-the-Year.
 
In leading the Warriors to four straight wins (outscoring their opponent 40-5) and the 2004 LEC tournament title, Julien batted .438 (7-for-16) with a .526 on-base percentage, with eight runs scored, two RBI, four extra-base hits, three walks and four stolen bases en route to Most Outstanding Player honors.
 
Still ranked first all-time in career games (200) and at-bats (761) 20 years after leaving the program, Julien collected 73 career multi-hit games (including 22 three-hit games and seven four-hit games (four as a freshman) and hit safely in 150 of his 200 career contests. In each of his final three seasons, Julien had hitting streaks of 12 or more. In the 2002 national championship season, his 12-game hitting streak began on the final day of the regular season and concluded on the final day of the national tournament. In 11 LEC and NCAA post-season games that year, he batted .405 with eight runs, four RBI, six walks and was 6-of-6 in stolen bases.
 
Having earned his stripes as one of the best clutch and opposite-field hitters in program history, Julien never had a bigger one than on the final day of the 2002 regional tournament that kept the team’s national tournament hopes alive. With once-beaten Eastern needing two wins over tournament unbeaten Wheaton College to claim the title, Julien entered the first game as a ninth-inning pinch hitter. In the bottom of the tenth, his one-out bases-loaded single gave Eastern a 3-2 win and set the stage for a 4-2 victory later in the day that vaulted Eastern into the national tournament.
 
In his first national tournament at-bat four days later at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, WI, Julien contributed a pinch two-run, opposite-field double to highlight a three-run eighth inning that produced another ten-inning victory – this one over Concordia-Austin. Batting second in the order as the DH two days later, he contributed four hits, scored two runs and stole two bases as the Warriors rallied for three ninth-inning runs in a 10-9 win over RPI.
 
In addition to holding program career records for games and at-bats, Julien currently ranks second in stolen bases (95/one behind the leader), fourth in hits (263), sixth in runs (193) and assists (406), tied for seventh in triples (12), and eighth in walks (95). His total of 147 assists during the 2002 national title season established a season record and still rates third in a season in program history. He is also one of seven players in program history to record as many as 30 steals in a season (2004).
 
Julien holds a B.A. Degree in Spanish and currently maintains the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 3 in the U.S. Marine Corps. He resides in Sneads Ferry, NC with wife Meghan and daughter Mila.