It was not the type of night to play a college baseball game on May 26, 1994.
Wind chill dipped into the low 30s. The brisk wind made it more difficult to hit, run or throw a baseball.
But the weather conditions didn’t matter to Joliet Junior College coach Wayne King and his players that particular evening. The Wolves were in Jamestown, N.Y., and they were set on completing their mission at hand.
That mission?
To bring home a national championship to the City of Champions.
To say that Wolves’ edition accomplished said feat would be a grave understatement.
Led by a magnificent three-hit, 10-strikeout and no-walk pitching performance by sophomore right-hander Tony Pasch (Joliet Catholic Academy), the Wolves beat North Lake (Texas), 6-0. That completed a 4-0 run at the 1994 National Junior College Athletic Association Division III World Series for the Wolves.
The triumph over North Lake also put an exclamation point on a magnificent 46-11 campaign for King’s ’94 ball club. In fact, the Wolves never lost stride, winning 42 of their final 47 games. JJC also flew the victory flag during 29 of its final 31 games and 19 of its final 20.
“Wow, 25 years ago already. Has it really been that long?” JJC All-America catcher that season Mark Gotts asked. “It just seems like yesterday. We had a lot of fun that spring. And winning the World Series was like icing on the cake for us. We did some celebrating on the field after the final out.”
The 1994 Wolves, however, had a slow start.
Tony Hafner (Providence Catholic) remembers a sluggish start out of the proverbial gate.
“We came back from our Tennessee trip, I think, with a 4-6 record,” said Hafner, who hit a team-best .429 with 46 RBIs, a team-high 81 hits and 20 doubles in 1994. “That kind of woke us up. It was a reality check for sure. Coach King got us going, and we starting playing much better once we got home from Tennessee.”
King put the team in its place after their annual Tennessee trek.
“Coach King told us, ‘You guys aren’t as good as you might think you are.’ ” Hafner said. “You haven’t proven anything yet, Wayne told us. And he was 100 percent correct.
“We finished the 1993 season by losing in the Region IV tournament. That definitely left a sour taste in our mouth. We wanted to atone for how 1993 ended. We had something to prove in 1994. That ’94 group hated to lose.”
When all was said and done in 1994, the Wolves were Secretariat-like down the stretch to conclude a storybook season.
That team averaged an impressive 9.6 runs a game. The Wolves were an offensive juggernaut from the top to the bottom of their lineup. No JJC regular batted below .300. The team sported a robust .355 average.
A tremendous offense, to say the least.
“We’d jump on opposing teams right away and never let up on the throttle,” said Gotts (Lockport), who batted .383 with 12 home runs, 23 doubles and a nation-best 84 RBIs that year. “And we possessed the type of lineup which pitchers could not rest against any of our hitters.
“Another thing about that ’94 team is we consistently put the ball in play. We didn’t strike out much. That put added pressure on opposing defenses.”
The Wolves’ offense was never more prolific than during a 23-7 trouncing of DuPage in the Region IV Tournament championship game. JJC and DuPage had split the first two games of the best-of-three series.
So, with everything on the line, Joliet used a school-record-setting 28-hit attack to roll over the stunned Chaparrals. Collecting five hits for the Wolves in that win over DuPage were designated hitter Jeff Schley (Providence Catholic), Hafner and outfielder Derek Kopacz (Lockport). Shortstop Brandy Brenczewski (JCA) and Region IV Tournament MVP John Ward (Providence), a second baseman, added four hits.
Schley hit a grand slam to back winning pitcher Mike Alstott (JCA).
JJC batted around three different times in the Region IV title-game clincher. It built an insurmountable 16-0 lead at one point.
After winning the Region IV crown, the Wolves swept John Wood Community College, 12-2, and 13-5, in a best-of-three district tournament. Right-handers Juan Ceballos (Joliet Central) and Bryan Fonseca (Providence) pitched complete-game triumphs for JJC in the district.
It was on to the NJCAA DIII World Series in Jamestown, N.Y.
“We were tremendously focused once we got back from our Tennessee trip,” King said. “The guys listened to the coaches, remained tuned into us and went out played very well. That group loved to compete. They were up to and accepted any challenge.
“There were no jealousies among the players whatsoever. Their focus was to win, and it didn’t matter who got it done.”
Joliet began World Series play with a 5-1 win over Queensboro (N.Y.). Pasch threw a two-hitter with six strikeouts and one walk over nine innings. Outfielder Dave Goes (Providence) and Schley each had two hits.
After the opening-series victory over Queensboro, Ceballos was in complete control and dominated Manchester (Conn.), 8-0, in Game 2. Ceballos (9-1 record in 1994) did not allow a runner past second base. Gotts, Hafner and Kopacz (.392 average, five homers, eight triples, 48 RBIs) all homered. Brenczewski had an RBI single, Schley a two-run double.
Dr. Matt Dunne, a doctor of internal medicine at Naperville’s Edward Hospital, was a freshman third baseman for the 1994 Wolves. Dunne’s two older brothers – Phil (infielder) and Bryant (pitcher) – also were standouts for JJC and King. Matt Dunne recorded the final assist in the series finale against North Lake.
“We felt bad about how we played on our Tennessee trip,” said Dunne, who contributed two hits against Manchester. “I do recall the team forming a bond along the way, though. I feel we were confident and that there was something special with that team. Yes, we were confident but never thought anything would be a cake walk.”
The Wolves made it 3-0 at the world series by beating North Lake, 6-4. Righty Brian Sullivan (Lockport), the Wolves’ bullpen ace with a team-best five saves, recorded the save for Alstott.
Playing center field, Goes made a spectacular ninth-inning diving catch in that win over North Lake. Dunne, Brenczewski and Ward all turned in stellar infield defensive gems. Kopacz, who homered and tripled, had a four-star grab in left field.
Brenczewski contributed an RBI double while Ward and Schley added RBI singles in Game 3 at the world series. Schley went 3 for 3 with a triple to push his average to .571 (20-for-35) for Joliet’s last eight games. Gotts had two hits. Alstott, a lefty, picked off two North Lake baserunners.
During the championship game against North Lake, outfielder Erik Bialobok (Lockport) slugged a two-run triple. Kopacz tripled. Gotts delivered a run-producing double while Hafner added a sacrifice fly.
Making the all-world series team were Pasch, Brenczewski, Kopacz, Gotts, Schley and Ceballos.
The left-handed-hitting Goes (.359 average, six homers, six triples, 57 RBIs) and Pasch were selected to the NJCAA DIII All-America first team. Gotts, the 1994 North Central Community College Conference Player of the Year, was a second-team All-America pick.
Pasch finished the season 11-2, then a single-season school mark for victories. During his two World Series starts en route to MVP accolades, Pasch whiffed 16 in 18 innings around just one walk and five hits allowed.
“Tony Pasch was not going to get beat at the World Series,” said Hafner, who has worked for ATI Physical Therapy for 16 years. “He was really focused. He was rock solid. Tony had that fire in his eyes.”
King knew that his ace – Pasch – would take care of business on that cold May 26 evening. King had no doubts.
“When we got a couple of runs early in the championship game, Tony raised up in the dugout and yelled, ‘That’s all I need, guys,’ ” King said with a smile. “He really was on his game that night. He was nearly unhittable most of the game.”
In the World Series finale, only three North Lake batters managed to hit balls into the outfield off Pasch. The righty retired 16 of the final 17 batters he faced, including the last 10.
That 1994 team went 11-1 in conference play to claim the Wolves’ first league crown in 23 years.
Up to that point in JJC baseball history, the ’94 team established single-season offensive marks for hits (646), at-bats (1,821), runs (545), doubles (115), home runs (37), RBIs (453), triples (39) and batting average (.355).
Also playing on the ’94 Wolves were Jim Tyrell, Jim Boyd, Mike Chubinski, Eric Baranak, Jason Crockett, Bill White, Brian Hobbs and Jim Lukancic.
King, who finished with 1,128 wins in 33 years at the school, also guided JJC to national titles in 2008 and 2012. The Wolves gained second-place national finishes in 1995, 2007 and 2015, besides third places in 1997 and 2006.
King led JJC to 12 NJCAA Division III World Series appearances.
First championships are tremendously special. Those dominant 1994 Wolves were no different for King.
“That ’94 team was easy to coach,” King said. “To be honest, by the fourth or fifth inning in many games that season, I was done coaching. We’d have such a big lead that we didn’t have to steal or hit-and-run. I didn’t have to do much.”
So, Wayne King, as you ride off into the baseball sunset, was that 1994 Joliet Junior College team the best you ever coached?
“We’ve had many fine, excellent teams along the way here the last 33 years,” he said. “But that ’94 team is probably the best I coached here. They were great. And the 2008 team is a close runner-up.”
– Dave Parker is a former sportswriter for The Herald-News. He was sports information director at Joliet Junior College for 13 years (1989-2002).