Tim Pettorini, who transformed The College of Wooster's baseball program into an elite power, then guided the Fighting Scots to sustained success in the top echelon of small college baseball, is part of this year's American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame class, as announced by the coaching organization on Wednesday. Pettorini's official induction will take place during the 2024 ABCA Convention, which is set for January 4-7 in Dallas, Texas.
Pettorini inherited a program that had success within the Ohio Athletic Conference and was a regular participant at the NCAA Div. III Mideast Regional in the years leading up to his arrival in 1982. He quickly went to work and by the late 1980s, Wooster was a serious title contender on an annual basis at the conference and regional level. Wooster captured the inaugural North Coast Athletic Conference championship in 1985, and a league-leading 19 conference crowns were earned by Wooster during Pettorini's legendary career. In 1989, Wooster knocked off longtime Mideast Region nemesis Marietta College 4-0 to punch its first of six tickets to the NCAA Div. III "World Series."
The Scots' program really took off in the 1990s with two berths in the Div. III "World Series," including 1997, where Wooster won four straight elimination games before falling to the University of Southern Maine with the national championship trophy at stake. Family intertwined Wooster's success, first with son Tim earning a starting role in the outfield on the Scots' 1994 team, which won the Mideast Regional and was the second team in program history to play in the "World Series." Nearly a decade later, one of the Scots' most talented squads knocked off Ohio State University, where son Terry was a junior infielder. In 2005, the top left side of the infield in all of Div. III helped lead the Scots to a third-place finish at the Div. III "World Series." Shortstop Luke Ullman was named the ABCA Player of the Year, and third baseman Jake Frank was a first-team All-American selection by the coaching association.
Wooster's 2009 team, led by four All-Americans, were twice a win away from a national title. Wooster scorched the likes of Carthage College, Kean University, the University of St. Thomas, and Chapman University by a combined score of 36-9 to advance to the championship round. Unfortunately, St. Thomas knocked off Wooster twice to take home the title.
Three All-Americans, including ABCA National Player of the Year Michael Wielansky, an 18th-round draft pick by the then-defending Major League Baseball champion Houston Astros, helped the program to its sixth and final "World Series" under Pettorini. A seventh regional title under Pettorini followed in the skipper's final season.
Pettorini's Scots went 1,243-461-6 for a .729 winning percentage during his 38 years in the Art Murray dugout. He ranked fifth all-time in NCAA Div. III wins upon his retirement. During his career, Wooster players earned 59 All-American certificates and 220 All-NCAC honors, and the Wooster legend was voted by his peers as the NCAC Coach of the Year 14 times.
The lifetime member of the ABCA voted on the Div. III coaches' poll from 2006-19 and was a speaker on a hitting panel at the 2010 ABCA Convention. He served a term as chair of the NCAA Div. III Mideast Region Advisory Committee and a second term as a committee member. Pettorini frequently presented at Ohio high school coaching clinics over the years and hosted youth player and coaches clinics in Wooster.
Pettorini retired from coaching following the 2019 season.