Hall of Fame
Western’s 1974 baseball team is associated with the best of the best in Leatherneck history. Coached by the program’s all-time winningest coach and 2004 Hall of Fame inductee Dick Pawlow, the ’74 squad also had two players enshrined in Ed Gvazdinskas was enshrined (1994) and Dennis Mantick (2003).
The 1974 team went 31-12 on the year for the most single-season wins at that time and second most today, and concluded the campaign with a trip to the NCAA Division II Mideast Regional. The postseason appearance marked the first-ever for WIU baseball, and several of the team’s season statistics still sit Top 10 in school history. All-time season rankings include: wins (31, T-2nd); winning streak (8, T-8th); batting average (.312, T-5th); triples (23, T-1st); walks (219, 5th); stolen bases (136, 1st); lowest ERA (2.90, 6th); lowest opponent batting average (235, 6th); and fielding percentage (.958, T8).
