Full count

Cal Lutheran may have just won its first national championship in baseball, but the program has a long and rich tradition. Team accomplishments in italics:

1960s

1962: First season finishes 5-9-1 under coach Luther Schwich (1962-64), also the college's first athletic director and basketball coach. In three baseball seasons, he compiles a 34-33-1 record.

1962: Jim Huchthausen wins CLC’s first Outstanding Player team award. Among his highlights: a seven-RBI game.

1965: Legendary football coach Bob Shoup takes the reins of the baseball program for one year; he is followed for the next two seasons by Ron Mulder.

1967: Three-sport star Al Kempfert pitches a one-hitter against Cal Western and a two-hitter against Pepperdine.

1968: Richard Papenfuss coaches for one season and George Engdahl for three.

1969: Second baseman Robert Fulewider is the school’s first major league draft pick, chosen by the St. Louis Cardinals.

1970s

1972: CLC finds coaching stability with Ron Stillwell, who is the first coach to win 100 games and compiles a 139-100-1 record in seven seasons.

1972: Right-hander Jeff Brock is drafted by the California Angels.

1976: CLC wins a then-record 28 games and Stillwell is named NAIA Coach of the Year.

1977: Catchers Gary Ledbetter and Steve Trumbauer are both drafted by MLB teams. Ledbetter, the earliest-ever pick out of Cal Lutheran, is selected in the first round (ninth overall) by the Giants while Trumbauer is drafted by the Angels.

1979: Jim Cratty coaches one year.

1980s

1980: The Al Schoenberger era begins. In eight seasons as coach, he has a record of 178-170-2.

1980: Kingsmen advance to postseason play for the first time.

1981: Right-hander Kevin Gross is drafted in the first round (11th overall) by the Philadelphia Phillies. The Fillmore native would become Ventura County’s first MLB All-Star in 1988 and pitch a no-hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1992.

1981: Lefty pitcher Mark Butler is a seventh-round draft choice of the Baltimore Orioles.

1981: Mark Butler and Tom Ginther become the first NAIA All-America selections, earning Second Team honors.

1982: Catcher John Westmoreland is a 15th-round pick by the San Diego Padres.

1983: Mark Bush is an NAIA Second Team All-America selection.

1985: Catcher Todd Dewey is drafted in the sixth round by the Atlanta Braves.

1988: Rich Hill replaces the retired Schoenberger. In only six seasons, Hill becomes CLU’s winningest coach to date with a record of 198-80.

1989: Shortstop Daren Cornell is a 12th-round draft pick by the Milwaukee Brewers.

1989: CLU tops the 30-win mark for the first time (31-18).

1990s

1990: In its last NAIA season, CLU wins the District 3 tournament out of the Golden State Athletic Conference and advances to the regionals in Portland, Oregon.

1990: Outfielder Blake Babki signs a free-agent contract with the New York Mets.

1991: Bob Farber is a CoSIDA Academic All-America 1991-92.

1992: Now in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and NCAA Division III, the Kingsmen are runners-up at the College World Series, losing to William Paterson (N.J.) 3-1. CLU wins a school-record 43 games.

1992: Four players earn ABCA All-America with two First Team selections Steve Dempsey and Darryl McMillin, Second Team Dan Smith and Third Team Pat Norville.

1993: CLU makes a second-straight World Series appearance, finishing seventh.

1993: Jeff Berman is a First Team ABCA All-America honoree. Joe Cascione, Eric Johnson and Mike Winslow named to Second Team.

1994: Marty Slimak becomes the 10th head coach. In 24 seasons, Slimak has a 688-323-8 record (.679) with a national championship, 13 NCAA West Regional appearances and 12 SCIAC titles.

1994: John Becker and Scott Sebbo are named to ABCA Third Team All-America.

1996: In its second trip to a Division III championship game, CLU falls again to William Paterson, 6-5.

1996: Andrew Barber pitches a no-hitter and is named to ABCA Third Team All-America. The right-hander signs a free-agent contract with the Colorado Rockies.

1997: Tom McGee earns ABCA Second Team All-America and Richard Bell is ABCA Third Team. McGee, a catcher, signs a free-agent contract with the Orioles.

1998: The Kingsmen finish seventh in the College World Series.

1998: Joseph Jauregui earns ABCA Third Team All-America.

1999: In a second consecutive CWS appearance, Cal Lutheran places third.

1999: Pitcher Adam Springston (34th round, Braves) is the fourth CLU player to be drafted in the ’90s, joining outfielder Darryl McMillin (60th round, Royals, ’92), right-hand pitcher Marc Weiss (26th round, Reds, ’94) and left-hand pitcher Richard Bell (28th round, Dodgers, ’97).

2000s

2000: A year after right-hander Tom Canale is ABCA Third Team All-America, he goes in the 10th round to the Cleveland Indians.

2003: Three-year starting pitcher Jason Hirsh is the first draft pick (2nd round) of the Houston Astros. The right-hander goes on to pitch three seasons in the majors.

2003: Catcher Taylor Slimak, the coach’s son, is drafted in the 23rd round by the Dodgers.

2005: Christian Hariot earns ABCA Second Team All-America.

2009: Second baseman David Iden is drafted in the 35th round by the Dodgers, capping a decade that saw a record eight CLU players drafted, including left-hand pitcher Justin Keeling (25th round, Twins, ’02), second baseman Brian Skaug (20th, Astros, ’03), right-hand pitcher Matt Hirsh (30th, Astros, ’05) and outfielder Lee Ellis (46th, Orioles, ’07).

2010s

2011: Nick Boggan earns ABCA Third Team All-America.

2013: CLU wins the first of five regular-season SCIAC titles (2013-17), along with four of the first five SCIAC postseason tournaments. This year, it leads Division III in batting average (.340), scoring (8.9 runs per game) and on-base percentage (.430).

2013: Jake Peterson earns ABCA First Team All-America and Aaron Roth earns ABCA Second Team All-America.

2014: Lefty pitcher Jake Petersen, the only two-time ABCA First Team All-America utility player, is the most recent Kingsmen draft pick (33rd round, Angels), joining right-hander Ian Durham (28th, Phillies, ’11) and second baseman Garrett Smith (37th, Indians, ’13). In all, 24 Kingsmen have been drafted by MLB teams.

2017: Cal Lutheran wins its first national championship, defeating Washington & Jefferson (Pennsylvania), two games to one, in the NCAA Division III College World Series in Appleton, Wisconsin.

CLU Magazine