Ashland Baseball To Celebrate, Look Back On First 100 Years Of Play

One hundred years is a long time.
 
And a lot can be done in a century – winning, losing, rainouts, snowouts, doubleheaders, and, sometimes, tripleheaders.
 
Going into this weekend's four-game series vs. Lake Erie at Ralph Tomassi Stadium at Donges Field on Saturday-Sunday (April 2-3), the Eagles have accumulated quite a bit to celebrate since 1922:
 
- 3,039 games played
- 1,783 wins
- 24 All-Americans
- 8 Academic All-Americas
- 6 College World Series appearances
 
There will be a recognition of the field enhancement project between games on Saturday, as well as a reception/social at the John C. Myers Convocation Center at the conclusion of Saturday's twinbill.
 
"It will be a great day," said Ashland head coach John Schaly, who, in his 25^th season, has coached a quarter of the Eagles' 100 campaigns, "to celebrate our alums, past players, all six of our World Series teams. With me being here for 25 years of the 100, first off, it's hard to believe. It's gone by so fast, but it's been a great 25 with a lot of great memories. Just so many special people who have gone through our program. That's what's made it so special is the people.
 
"I'm really looking forward to the evening. I think we're going to have a great crowd there. Seeing some guys I haven't seen in years, and see how they're doing with families and careers. It will be a real fun evening for me."
 
MODEST BEGINNINGS, STRONG LEADERSHIP
There weren't many games played each season in the early days of the Ashland baseball program. There were no championships, either, until back-to-back Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference titles in 1950 and 1951.
 
What the Eagles did have, however, for a five-decade-plus span was consistency, as George Donges was the head coach for 36 seasons (1936-71), and Lou Markle followed for 18 seasons (1972-89).
 
Ashland made an NCAA postseason appearance in 1954, and the NAIA playoffs in 1958-59, 1965 and 1967, but the first NCAA postseason victory didn't come until 1976, and the first NCAA College World Series appearance came in 1995.
 
Ralph Tomassi, who played for the Eagles in the 1970s before serving the campus for more than three decades in various roles, was a member of the 1976 squad which won three NCAA playoff games.
 
"The 1976 team tied a school record for wins and was selected for the NCAA East Regional Tournament," Tomassi noted. "We upset top-seeded Widener University and Marietta College the first two games before running out of pitching. Our team featured a free-spirited group – mostly guys who were three-sport high school athletes. We received a postseason berth despite a 20-12 record due to playing one of the toughest college division schedules in the country."
 
Schaly came to campus at a time when the Eagles were good, but not at a consistent winning level. And the home field was, well…
 
"Our facility was awful. There's no other way to put it," he said. "Right field, ball goes into the corner and you couldn't see his legs. Backstop was four telephone poles."
 
HISTORY BUILDS UPON ITSELF
Success begets success, and student-athletes want to come play for successful programs.
 
Such was the case for Jamie Detillion, a first baseman/pitcher who said he wanted to play in a College World Series, and the Eagles' 1995 CWS run was a factor in him choosing Ashland.
 
"My time at Ashland was certainly an enjoyable experience," Detillion said. "The 1999 and 2000 teams were a great group of guys. They were two pretty determined teams, very competitive. Reflecting back, the 1999 regional was a big step for the program. The GLVC (Great Lakes Valley Conference) dominated the regional for a long time to that point. The '99 championship started a run for AU, as well as the GLIAC (Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference). The 2002 World Series team had a good handful of guys that played on the 1999 World Series team and gained some valuable experience.
 
"The 1999 regional was exciting. It is something I still remember well 20-plus years later. I can't remember what I ate for breakfast this morning, but I can remember so many things about that weekend. There were some really close games during the tournament. We walked off on Indianapolis in the first round with Brian Guzik's home run. We had a big comeback against Quincy in Round 2, and a great one-run win in the championship game. Quincy was loaded with talent. They were loaded, and we had a team full of guys up to the challenge."
 
Schaly has guided Ashland to five more College World Series appearances (1999, 2002, 2006, 2008 and 2019), which makes it easier to recruit to keep a successful continuity.
 
"Having winning teams definitely helps in recruiting," he said. "You want to go play for a winner. My father (the late College Baseball Hall of Famer Don Schaly) said it years ago, and I didn't understand it until I got to Ashland. He'd been at Marietta for so long. He said the program almost ran itself.
 
"Basically, he meant the older players taught the younger, new players the system, our culture, and sometimes, it means more coming from a teammate than it does a coach. Now that I have been here as long as I have, that's what happens here at Ashland, as well. Our veterans are great leaders…and they bring the new guys along, and that helps us win on a consistent basis."
 
THE FOUR-HOME RUN GAME
There may not be an Ashland baseball game that stands out in program lore more than May 16, 1999 – an 11-10 regional-winning game against Quincy in which Detillion hit four home runs.
 
"I was fortunate that my bat ran into a few pitches that weekend," he said. "Former Quincy head coach Pat Atwell told me that bigger than the four-home run game, the biggest home run of tourney was the one I hit in Game 2 off their lefty to spur our comeback. It was one those weekends that felt like everything was clicking at the plate. Quite honestly, looking back, it was simply an accumulation of intent-full guided practice reps as well as work on the mental side of the game that our coaching staff had trained us on throughout the year. I had some really competitive teammates and what drove me the most was not wanting to let them down. I lived for the opportunity. 
 
"The four-home run game during the regional championship game is one of my career highlights, but what means the most to me about this game is that I was able to contribute to our team advancing to the World Series. I had been taught that great players were great visualizers of big moments. So, I did my best to prepare myself for big moments because I wanted to have an impact. Some of these things were played out in my own mind before they ever existed on a field. Another contributing factor in is having dangerous hitters/teammates around me in the lineup. Who pitches to a guy that already hit four home runs in a close game if he isn't surrounded by more threats in a lineup? It's definitely a team effort. We had a well-coached up group of talented hitters."
 
Detillion noted that his teammate, Joe Monaco, hit him in the shoulder with a line drive in pre-game batting practice as Detillion was running the bases prior to the four-homer game, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to play the game.
 
"I wish I could look at it as some spiritually symbolic moment that something big was going to happen, but the reality is I was just a really, really slow runner," said Detillion, "and was too slow to get out of the way. I'm glad I was able to play and contribute that day."

Schaly said, "There's been so many great memories. The '99 team, the regional final. It's hard to pinpoint one game because there's been so many great games."
 
THE MAGIC OF 2019
In 2019, the Eagles went 48-15, winning the super regional at home and making the program's latest College World Series appearance.
 
Senior right-handed closer Chris Slavik was responsible for 20 of those victories thanks to 12 wins and eight saves.
 
"The 2019 season in-particular was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all of us involved," Slavik said. "To tie the school record for most wins in a season while having the most fun I've ever had on a baseball diamond was an incredible experience. That team proved that no matter what the situation or scoreboard said, there was always a way to win and boy did we really take a few of those games right down to the wire.
 
"Every guy on that team had a clutch moment to make the road to Cary become a reality for us and that is what I think was most special about 2019."
 
Said Schaly, "We had 13 wins in our last at-bat that year, and I think, eight true walk-off wins. The super regional Game 3 (against Illinois Springfield) was a walk-off. A lot of close games that our guys never quit, came from behind and we'd get it done in the last inning or two.
 
"It was a special team, no doubt about it."
 
EAGLES TO THE MAJORS
Four former Ashland baseball players have played in Major League Baseball regular-season games:
- Ken Kravec, left-handed pitcher, 1975-80 Chicago White Sox, 1981-82 Chicago Cubs. Won 43 games, including a career-high 15 in a career-high 250 innings in 1979.
- Gene Stechschulte, right-handed pitcher, 2000-02 St. Louis Cardinals. Hit a home run on the first pitch he saw in the majors on April 17, 2001. Pitched in 116 games, all in relief, and recorded eight wins and six saves.
- Art Warren, right-handed pitcher, 2019 Seattle Mariners, 2021-current Cincinnati Reds. Is 4-0 with a 1.03 earned-run average in 32 career MLB games, and looks for his first full major-league season in 2022.
- Brandyn Sittinger, right-handed pitcher, 2021 Arizona Diamondbacks (in Atlanta Braves camp in 2022). Came back from stint in independent ball to play for Arizona (0-1, 7.71 in five relief appearances) in fifth professional season.
 
THE SCHALY FACTOR
Schaly has a record of 852-455-4 (.651) at Ashland. The lessons his players have learned over the last quarter-century can't be fully quantified.
 
"It's tough for me to think of Ashland baseball and not think of coach Schaly," said Casey Jirsa, an AU Hall of Famer and perhaps the most decorated player in program history. "Coach was focused on the fundamentals and taught us how to play the game the right way. Coach Schaly is a major contributor to the success of Ashland, and I believe it's fair to say his coaching statistics back that up. It's due to his leadership that the program has won many league and regional titles, while making several World Series appearances."
 
"When coach Schaly was hired my sophomore year, he brought a championship mentality to Ashland and had immediate success," Detillion said. "He educated his players well with instruction and created an atmosphere of hard work and winning. He was demanding and with great intent. His guys are confident and believe they'll succeed in big moments in big games.
 
"To this day, I couldn't be more appreciative of his mentorship and guidance as a coach. Some of the values he teaches his teams are things that last a lifetime."
 
Said former Eagle outfielder Josh Baker, "The program stands alone as one of the best in the country. And the reason is coach Schaly. He has molded the facilities, the players, the coaches, the administrators, the university, and the community to trust him with his vision. Thinking back on my time under coach as a 20-year-old kid, he taught you without you knowing it. He has so much knowledge, and everything he does is calculated. Everything. Practices, lifting, study tables, the time you eat, even when we were on breaks. You have no choice but to learn and absorb everything that comes out of his mouth. But it isn't forced. There isn't a more prepared or knowledgeable baseball person on this planet. He would do anything for you and we in turn would do anything for him.
 
"He recruited me out of junior college, and honestly, I had no intention of coming to AU. At the time, the field was junk. I was coming off what I considered two terrible years, and I was ready to move on from baseball. But he had a way of being persistent yet leaving you alone. I had never had anyone that taught me why before. Every coach told me what to do. Coach taught me why to do it. He taught all of us. He molded us into what he knew would be successful. We were all young and his words were the gospel. Sure, we would all imitate his southern twang and laugh about the things he said 100 times a day, but we never questioned the relentlessness and muscle memory he was drilling into us. He was the most humble person I'd ever met. He was a national champion, All-American and MVP of the World Series. I asked him one time, 'So you were pretty good?' He said, 'I was all right.' It was and is never about him, and he would never ever make himself more important than the team."
 
WHAT COMES AFTER
Ashland baseball isn't just what happens on the field, in the clubhouse and on the bus. It also is what happens long after careers have ended – and the impact that those years as an Eagle have had on the rest of their lives.
 
"It is so exciting to see the lives my teammates have built for themselves," Smithberger said. "The pride we have in each other's successes is incredible, and we all share the Ashland University baseball program in our DNA. It is a part of all of us and helped make us the men we are today."
 
Said Slavik, "Overall, I would say it was an honor to play for such a historic program and with such a great coach. It's incredible that the tradition of winning and preparing men for life beyond college has continued for such a long time, and that speaks volumes about those involved with the program. Throughout my four years, not only did I have fun playing baseball, but it also provided me the opportunity to forge friendships that will last a lifetime.
 
"During my time at AU, we made three regional tournaments in four years, something most colleges might see once in every four years. That is a norm at Ashland."
 
Added Jirsa, "When I was first heading to college, my dad told me these were going to be the best four years of my life. It took me awhile to realize that, but he was spot on. Not only was Ashland a great school, but we have a great baseball program. The experiences I gained from baseball were life-changing, and I made some lifelong friends, too. Those guys were my family for four years. We made great memories on and off the field. Some of the most memorable were our spring trips to Florida, and the skits we used to make in the fall. I miss those times and my teammates."
 
THE DIAMOND CLUB – AND THE NEXT 100 YEARS
Donges Field has undergone significant upgrades in recent years, the most recent of which came in the last offseason - an artificial turf surface for the entire field, new outfield wall, expanded AU bullpen so pitchers can do an enhanced throwing program, new foul poles, both dugouts expanded with new protective screening, expanded backstop to go to both dugouts, repainted scoreboard with hardwired internet and a grass practice infield with laser-graded dirt and a new water line.
 
"To see the upgrades to our facility in the last 25 years is truly amazing," said Schaly. "I would have never guessed we'd have what we have now when I first came here. We went from the worst facility in the league to now, we have the best."
 
Smithberger is the president of AU baseball's booster club, the Diamond Club.
 
"The program's future has never been brighter," he said. "Through the work of the Diamond Club and generous donations, in the last 12 months, the facility has been upgraded with field turf and a new outfield fence. The player experience is at an all-time high. I'm proud of the program's past and excited for the future. The next 100 years are going to be as storied and successful and the first 100 years."
 
Schaly said of the Diamond Club, "It's amazing what the Diamond Club has been able to do in just a little over a year. Our whole field project…is because of the Diamond Club and our alums. I'm so appreciative of how much support we've gotten from our alums, and obviously, Mr. Bob Archer is such a great fan of our program. We couldn't do it without him.
 
"The Diamond Club has accomplished a lot of things already in just a year's time."
 
If the next 100 years of Eagle baseball are anything like the first 100, a lot of great memories are about to be made.
 
Said Slavik, "Year in and year out, this program is ready to compete at the highest level, and I look forward to watching that happen for as many of the next 100 years as I'll be around for."
 
Added Jirsa, "My hope is that during the next 100 years of Ashland baseball, a World Series title will be one thing added to the resume."