By: Matt Florjancic '07
BEREA, Ohio – It is not every day that one coach reaches the 500-wins mark at a school, but the Baldwin Wallace University baseball and softball teams each helped their leaders recently obtain the milestone victories.
Softball head voach Tom Spencer eclipsed the 500-win plateau when the Yellow Jackets split a non-conference doubleheader against The College of Wooster, and then, baseball head coach Brian Harrison matched the achievement when the nationally ranked baseball swept an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader with Wilmington.
"It feels great," Spencer said. "I didn't even realize what was coming until my wife told me about it. She was talking to somebody, and she told me what was coming up. It's exciting. It means I've been around a long time, man, long time. Wish I started younger rather than in my mid-thirties. I could have already been there."
Harrison added, "Oh man, it made me feel old, and good stuff like that, I think it just helps you remember how many awesome players and coaches and people that have influenced our program, not only at BW, but my time as a head coach man going back from the Tri-C days.
"I think that's what those moments are cool for. I'm not into the milestones, I'm not into any of that. It's just not for me, but what is, is remembering how fortunate I've been to be a part of this game for as long as I have, and how fortunate that I've had some awesome players, coaches, staff, et cetera."
Back-to-Back Days
Spencer and Harrison did not just accomplish their 500th victories in the same season, or the same month for that matter.
Spencer reached the milestone victory with a 10-8 win over the Wooster Fighting Scots at the BW Softball Field on March 28. Then, on the very next day, Harrison reached the mark with the sweep of Wilmington at Fisher Field.
"I saw it on our website, and I immediately shot him a text," Harrison said. "I feel like we've got a good working relationship and mutual respect, so I sent him a note."
Spencer added, "It was awesome, and I will tell you, I did not realize Brian was there. I don't remember what day of the week we played. I don't know what day I hit it, what day of the week it was, but I got a text from Brian that evening saying, 'Congratulations on your 500th man.' The next day, I sent him a text. I said, 'Right back at you, buddy. Congratulations.' He probably didn't know I was there, and I definitely didn't know he was there, but for a school to have two 500-win coaches, that's probably very unusual, I would think."
Sparking Some Research
Originally, after sending the congratulatory text to Spencer, Harrison became curious about his own coaching record.
Harrison started his coaching career as head coach at Cuyahoga Community College, and then, became the head coach at Urbana University. After serving as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds and hitting coach at the University of Dayton, Harrison became the 10th head coach in Baldwin Wallace history, succeeding legendary coach Dr. Robert "Bob" Fisher.
It was during the course of that research that Harrison realized he was close to reaching the 500-win mark, too.
"I looked it up, and I'm like, 'Holy crap, this is a coincidence,'" Harrison recalled with a laugh. "In my head, I'm thinking, 'Man, I hope nobody at BW knows how close I am to that milestone. It's not about me, man. It's about our guys, our kids, and that type of thing.
"'I hope they don't see it and make a big deal of it,' and then, after the game, I heard it over the loudspeaker, and I'm like, 'Damn.' I'm one of those guys that gets more embarrassed than anything. Some people love it, and I don't want to say I care less because you want to win, but that's not what's important to me. What's important to me is getting the most out of our guys, getting them to believe in themselves, getting to play better than what they're capable of, staying in the moment, hopefully putting ourselves in a position to win championships and making a difference and building great relationships with our guys."
Hometown Guy
All acknowledgments and celebrations aside, for Harrison, reaching the milestone was a great experience, especially when he sat back and considered where his baseball journey has taken him.
Harrison is a Westlake, Ohio native and went to St. Edward High School in nearby Lakewood. Then, after his stellar career at Shawnee State University, where he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008, Harrison started his coaching career at Tri-C.
For Harrison, staying in the Northeast Ohio area for the bulk of his career has been a blessing.
"I think it is awesome," Harrison said. "There's really only a thousand NCAA jobs out there across the country, and to get one that's really six miles from where I grew up? All the mentors and coaches that have impacted me from the Northeast Ohio area, I think it is really cool.
"I'm not the fufu articulate guy, but hell yeah, it's cool, man. It's shaped me as a person, all the coaches and mentors that I've had in my life. Northeast Ohio baseball, it's a talented area. We're blessed to have a lot of good coaches here."
Family Affair
Much like Harrison, who relished his accomplishment with his wife, Traci, sons, Braden and Luke, and daughter, Harper, the 500th victory was a family affair for Spencer, too.
His wife, Lori, and daughters, Kelly and Alana, have been with him every step of the way in his coaching journey, which includes two stops at Baldwin Wallace, one each at Butler University and Notre Dame College, and tenures as the BW women's basketball assistant coach and head women's golf coach.
"They are definitely my biggest fans," Spencer said. "They were at the game. They are at as many games as they can get to. My wife's at about all of them. I'm proud of them, and I think they're proud of their dad. It's a family effort. I'm gone from home a lot during the season and during the summertime on weekends recruiting, and my wife is the most supportive person I have around me.
"Kelly has my first little grandson, Noah. He's going to be two next month, and he's my little buddy now because I'll bring him in the dugout. He's my biggest fan now. We bring him onto the field in-between games and the girls are playing with him."
Success in Berea
While both coaches have led other programs, Harrison and Spencer each have won more than 300 games during their tenures at Baldwin Wallace.
Although Harrison and Spencer get credit for the victories, they are quick to share the accolades with the players who have won the games, as well as the coaches who have helped recruit and develop talent.
"The players are the most important thing," Spencer said. "We're only as good as the players we have. That's the bottom line. That's at any level. If you have better players, you're going to win most of the time, and that's the way that works.
"In more recent years, the support of the school in terms of our facility, that's made a huge difference in our program….When we got the new field, and we were now able to bring in some quality kids that wanted to play there, we've been pretty darn good and competitive every year since….I have 23 of the best kids I could ask for right now."
Harrison added, "I'm not good at a lot of things, but I'm really good at having some awesome assistant coaches, and man, these guys are the table setters. These guys just get it done. They're awesome at what they do, great students of the game. They're great at each of their positions, and our guys gravitate to them. They build confidence in our guys. I just show up at practice and stay out of their way, to be quite honest with you."
Postseason Runs
After each getting their 500thwin, Spencer and Harrison have focused on the stretch run of the regular season, which has helped put both Yellow Jackets teams into the Ohio Athletic Conference postseason tournaments.
The baseball team will go into the OAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed after winning the regular-season championship for the second straight year and third time since the start of the 2019 season.
"This club's different than last year's," Harrison said. "We had some grown men where we were never out of a game. We could out-hit our mistakes. This team, we're doing it with pitching. We've got some really good arms, man. We've got seven or eight arms that we feel are extremely competitive at Division III, which just doesn't happen very often. Hopefully, our pitching's good enough to carry us and we can win a lot of 4-3 games."
The softball team will go into the OAC Tournament as the No. 3 or No. 4 seed depending on the results of Friday's doubleheader against John Carroll University. With one win over John Carroll, the Yellow Jackets will clinch the three seed and face second-seeded Muskingum in the opening round.
"It's been a great season," Spencer said. "We've had a young team for a couple of years in a row now. I told our kids Sunday after our win, 'You should be proud. You know there's six other teams right now that would love to be where we are.'
"We've got a chance. Anybody in the top four in softball has been proven in the past. Anybody can win it, so we'll just go in, give it our best shot and hope for the best. It's not the best team that wins that tournament all the time. It's whoever's best that weekend."
