Slippery Rock's Messer Collects Career Victory No. 750
From Slippery Rock Sports Information
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- Slippery Rock University Head Baseball Coach Jeff Messer recorded his 750th career victory Saturday afternoon when The Rock defeated Mercyhurst College, 13-9, at Jack Critchfield Park.
Messer now owns a 750-428-4 record in 24 seasons as The Rock's head coach coach.
He leads all active Pennsylvania college head coaches in career victories and ranks second on the Commonwealth’s all-time wins list. Former Temple University boss James Wilson leads that list with 1034 victories in 46 seasons.
Messer began the 2009 season ranked 12th among active NCAA Division II head coaches, 20th on the all-time D-II wins list, 22nd in winning percentage among active D-II coaches and 47th in all-time winning percentage.
Only the fourth man to serve as head baseball coach at SRU, Messer has guided Rock teams to 15 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division championships, two PSAC titles, two PSAC runner-up finishes, four NCAA regional championships and subsequent appearances in the Division II World Series and two regional runner-up honors.
Messer-coached Rock squads have averaged 31 wins per season since 1986 and earned berths in 18 PSAC playoffs and 12 NCAA regional tournaments.
Along the way, Messer has earned the respect of his coaching peers. He has received 10 PSAC-West "Coach of the Year" awards and four American Baseball Coaches Association regional citations.
The most impressive honor achieved by Messer may well have been his election by his peers in January 2008 to a three-year term as the ABCA’s Division II national chair.
He has also served the last 15 seasons as the regional chair for the ABCA’s weekly national poll and served eight seasons on the NCAA committee that determined the participants in Division II postseason competition.
As if all these accomplishments and honors weren’t enough: Messer will add another sparkling gem to his collection April 25 when the Springfield College graduate is inducted into the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame during festivities at the Butler Days Inn.