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The College of Wooster baseball team was in need of a spark offensively. Wooster had won 17 of its last 18 entering the winners’ bracket game of the 2005 NCAA Div. III Mideast Regional, but found itself in a 4-0 hole midway through its match-up with Otterbein College.
Luke Ullman provided the big hits, first a two-out double in the bottom of the fifth inning to put the Fighting Scots on the board and another double two innings later that tied the game in their eventual 6-5 victory.
Similar scenarios played out time and time again that year, particularly the postseason when Ullman carried Wooster to North Coast Athletic Conference and NCAA regional championships – the first NCAC team to accomplish that feat – and third-place at the NCAA finals.
“(Luke’s) performance was off the charts,” said long-time Wooster baseball coach Tim Pettorini. “Every time he got up, he made key hits or drove in runs. It was just a phenomenal stretch (during the NCAC and regional tournaments) that carried through the Div. III national championships.”
Prior to the banquet at the eight-team finals of the NCAA Div. III Championships in Appleton, Wis., Ullman was selected as the American Baseball Coaches Association Div. III Player of the Year – just the third Fighting Scot across all sports to be honored as a national player of the year – to go with his Mideast Regional MVP and NCAC Player-of-the-Year awards.
The senior shortstop and leadoff hitter continued to carry a hot bat during the finals, as he doubled twice and homered twice among his 6-for-13, five-RBI performance during Wooster’s four games there, and took a spot on the all-tournament team. For the season, he finished up with a .426 average, 23 doubles, 15 home runs, 63 RBI, and 11 stolen bases.
“To his credit, when we really needed him to step up and carry the team, he did,” said Pettorini. “If he didn’t get the player-of-the-year award, it would’ve been highway robbery. But he did, and it marked the culmination of a great career. There’s how many thousands of Div. III college baseball players, and to be designated the very best is truly special.”
While his senior season certainly was special, Ullman was outstanding throughout his career. A four-year starter at short and three-time all-conference and all-region performer, he accumulated a .372 batting average (226-for-607), 217 runs, 63 doubles, 37 homers, 175 RBI, a .679 slugging percentage, a .475 on-base percentage, and 48 steals.
At the completion of his career, Ullman ranked tied for eighth in NCAA Div. III history in runs scored and tied for ninth in doubles. He remains among the top-10 in every major offensive category in Wooster’s annals.
Ullman, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science, spent several successful years of sales in the construction industry. Then, he pursued his passion further, creating a high-end residential construction company, The Ullman Group LLC, based in Charlotte, N.C., and he currently serves as president of the company, which works on everything from commercial construction to homes to corporate offices, country clubs, and universities.
When not running his business, Ullman and his wife, April, who reside in Waxhaw, N.C., stay very busy with their three young children – Kenzie (3), Harper (2), and Nash (infant).