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* National championships in 1980 and 1988
* A string of 66 consecutive seasons without a losing record and only one below-.500 record in the program’s 69 years
* Appearances in 27 of the 28 NCAA Division III playoffs
* Four coaches—each of whom has earned a spot in the Ithaca College Athletic Hall of Fame
* An overall 1,243-476-9 record (a .722 winning percentage).
In 1931 Joe Tatascore coached the first Ithaca team, which finished 7-4.
James A. “Bucky” Freeman began a 31-year coaching career in 1932. He posted a career winning percentage of .773 (281-82-2) and led the Bombers to four NCAA tournament appearances at a time when all NCAA teams played in the same division. Freeman’s teams had winning seasons in 30 of his years, finishing one game below .500 in the other season.
The 1955 and 1959 teams were the first to qualify for postseason play. Six members of the class of 1959 signed professional baseball contracts.
Freeman’s 1962 team posted a 15-0 regular-season record, won the District 2 regional playoffs and became one of the smallest schools to compete at the College World Series. The Bombers upset Missouri in the opener, 5-1, before losing one-run decisions to Florida State and Texas.
Eddie Sawyer, the second Ithaca player to sign a professional baseball contract, went on to manage the Philadelphia Phillies to the 1950 National League pennant. Grover “Deacon” Jones went to the major leagues as a player and also served as a hitting instructor. George Kissell has been affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals since he left Ithaca. Ithaca head coaches Carlton “Carp” Wood and George Valesente played for Freeman.
In 1969 Freeman was inducted into the American Association of Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, and inducted as a charter member of the Ithaca College Athletic Hall of Fame.
Freeman stepped down in 1965 and gave the team to Wood, who had coached the junior varsity program from 1954 to 1964. Wood’s varsity teams never had a losing season and made NCAA tournaments nine times at the Collegiate, College Division and Division III levels.
Under Wood, Ithaca advanced to the World Series in 1973, 1976 and 1978. The team reached the 1973 championship game, losing to California-Irvine, 9-6. The Bombers competed for the first Division III crown in 1976 but lost in the title game. Wood was honored by the American Association of Baseball Coaches as College Division coach of the year in 1973 and shared the honor in 1976.
All-American Rich Miller was one of the top performers under coach Wood. Miller, the first dean of the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance at Ithaca, hit .368 in his career and signed with the San Francisco Giants. Pitcher Paul Patterson posted record-setting numbers in his two seasons of intercollegiate competition before signing with the Chicago White Sox. He struck out an average of 8.9 batters per nine innings in a Bomber career that included 147.3 innings of work. Tom Welch, the first Ithaca baseball player to receive first-team all-American honors, hit .426 in his two seasons.
Wood retired in 1978 and handed the team over to Valesente, another Freeman protégé. One of Division III’s winningest active coaches, Valesente has guided Ithaca into the NCAA playoffs in 24 of his 25 years. The Bombers won national championships in 1980 and 1988.
In 1980 Ithaca overcame a first-round loss to Upsala in the World Series by capturing four straight games to win the championship. That team led Division III in batting with a .363 average and in earned run average as well, with a 2.15 mark. Dave Axenfeld captured the Division III individual crown that year with a 0.78 earned run average. Glen Cook, who went 7-0 that spring, was drafted by the Texas Rangers and reached the major leagues in 1986, becoming the second Bomber to appear in a major league game. The Bombers led NCAA Division III in batting average again in 1983, when the team hit a school-record .372.
The 1988 title was also dramatic, as the Bombers rallied from a 5-3 deficit in the final game to defeat Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 7-5. Pitcher Joe Sottolano earned the World Series outstanding player award after his two wins during the tournament. Four members of the 1988 team signed professional contracts: outfielders Steve Graham and Vince Roman, catcher Fritz Hamburg and third baseman Brian Parrotte.
Ithaca has made four trips to the Division III World Series since winning the 1988 national championship. In the last 16 years 10 more Bombers have signed with professional teams.
Valesente was recently inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, joining four other members of the Ithaca coaching circle: Freeman, Dave Chamberlain, Dick Rockwell and Ted Thoren (Ithaca graduates who spent long careers coaching Monroe Community College, Le Moyne and Cornell, respectively).