Northern Colorado Bears baseball

Northern Colorado Bears baseball is the varsity intercollegiate team representing University of Northern Colorado in the sport of college baseball in NCAA Division I. The team is led by Mike Anderson, and plays its home games at Jackson Field on campus in Greeley, Colorado. The Bears are baseball members of the Summit League, having joined in July 2021 after spending the previous eight years as baseball members of the Western Athletic Conference.^[2]

Northern Colorado Bears
2024 Northern Colorado Bears baseball team
Founded	1924 (1924)
University	University of Northern Colorado
Head coach	Mike Anderson (2nd season)
Conference	Summit League
Location	Greeley, Colorado
Home stadium	Jackson Field (Capacity: 1,500)
Nickname	Bears
Colors	Blue and gold[1]
College World Series appearances
1952, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1974
NCAA Tournament appearances
Division II: 1994, 1998 Division I: 1974, 1975, 1976 College Division: 1971, 1972, 1973 No Divisions: 1949, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968
Conference tournament champions
NCC: 1998 GPAC: 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 RMC: 1971, 1972
Regular season conference champions
GWC: 2013 NCC: 1998 GPAC: 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 RMC: 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1972

Prior to the 1968 establishment of what is now the NCAA Division II baseball tournament, the Bears reached the College World Series nine times, and reached the CWS again in 1974 at the Division I level for a total of ten appearances, compiling a record of 3–20. The school was known as Colorado State College until 1970, when the school changed to its present name. This is not to be confused with the current Colorado State University, which was known as Colorado A&M until 1957.

Venue

See also: Jackson Field

The Bears play baseball home games at Jackson Field, which holds 1,500.^[3] Jackson Field has hosted NCAA regionals in 1952, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1962 and 1974.

The Bears home dugout at Jackson Field, July 2015

History

Northern Colorado first fielded a baseball team from 1924^[4] to 1942, taking a break during World War II and returned to play in 1945, under Pete Butler, who returned to his post as head coach after serving in the United States Navy.^[5]

After playing as a Division I Independent following their return to Division I play in 2004, the Bears joined the Great West Conference for the 2010 season.^[6] The Bears captured the 2013 regular season Great West Conference championship, their first conference championship since 1998.^[7] When the Great West League became defunct, the Bears joined the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).^[8]

Following the 2021 season, the Bears announced they would join the Summit League to help control costs.^[9]

Head coaches

• Records are through June 28, 2022

Tenure	Coach	Years	Record	Pct.
1924–1927	George E. Cooper	4	13–9–1	.587
1928–1929	George Cooper/Pete Brown	2	6–3	.667
1930–1940	Pete Brown	11	54–58	.482
1941–1942, 1945–1967	Pete Butler	25	417–153–2	.731
1943–1944	World War II – No Team
1968–1970	Thurman Wright	3	43–35–1	.551
1971–1985	Tom Petroff	15	367–198–1	.649
1986–1990	John Barnes	5	90–133	.404
1991–2002	Terry Hensley	12	289–284	.504
2003–2010	Kevin Smallcomb	8	195–235	.453
2011–2022	Carl Iwasaki	12	218–375	.368
2023–present	Mike Anderson	1	0–0	–

Longest Tenure Rank Name Seasons 1 Pete Butler 25 2 Tom Petroff 15 3 Terry Hensley 12

Most Wins Rank Name Wins 1 Pete Butler 417 2 Tom Petroff 367 3 Terry Hensley 289

Best Winning Pct. Rank Name Pct. 1 Pete Butler .731 2 Tom Petroff .649 3 George E. Cooper .587

Postseason appearances

NCAA tournament

See also: NCAA Division I Baseball Championship and College World Series

Year	Site	Record	Notes
1949	Bovard Field	1–2	West Regional
1951	Unknown	2–0	Won District VII Playoff
1952	Jackson Field	2–0	Won District VII Playoff
1952	Omaha Municipal Stadium	0–2	CWS Seventh Place
1953	Derks Field	2–1	Won District VII Playoff
1953	Omaha Municipal Stadium	0–2	CWS Seventh Place
1954	Jackson Field	1–2	Lost District VII Playoff
1955	Jackson Field	2–1	Won District VII Playoff
1955	Omaha Municipal Stadium	1–2	CWS Fifth Place
1956	Jackson Field	1–2	Lost District VII Playoff
1957	Jackson Field	2–1	Won District VII Playoff
1957	Omaha Municipal Stadium	0–2	CWS Seventh Place
1958	Cougar Field	1–2	Lost District VII Playoff
1958	Omaha Municipal Stadium	1–2	CWS Fifth Place
1959	Jackson Field	2–1	Won District VII Playoff
1959	Omaha Municipal Stadium	0–2	CWS Seventh Place
1960	Derks Field	2–1	Won District VII Playoff
1960	Omaha Municipal Stadium	0–2	CWS Seventh Place
1961	Unknown	3–1	Won District VII Playoff
1961	Omaha Municipal Stadium	0–2	CWS Seventh Place
1962	Jackson Field	3–0	Won District VII Playoff
1962	Omaha Municipal Stadium	0–2	CWS Seventh Place
1963	UA Field	0–3	Lost District VII Playoff
1964	Falcon Baseball Field	0–2	Lost District VII Playoff
1965	Phoenix Municipal Stadium	2–4	Lost District VII Playoff
1966	Jackson Field	0–2	Lost District VII Playoff
1968	Unknown	1–2	Lost District VII Playoff
1971	Unknown	3–2	Lost Midwest Regional
1972	Unknown	2–2	Lost Midwest Regional
1973	Unknown	2–2	Lost Midwest Regional
1974	Jackson Field	4–1	Won District VII Playoff
1974	Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium	1–2	CWS Fifth Place
1975	Packard Stadium	0–2	Lost Rocky Mountain Regional
1976	Bailey Field	0–2	Lost West Regional
1994	Mules’ Field	0–2	Lost Central Regional
1998	Mules’ Field	0–2	Lost Central Regional
Total	–	41–60	(38–40 regionals) (0–0 super reg.) (3–20 CWS)

Source:^[10]

Conference affiliations

• Rocky Mountain Conference: 1924–1972
• Great Plains Athletic Conference: 1973–1976
• Division I Independent: 1977–1990
• North Central Conference 1991–2003
• Division I Independent: 2004–2009
• Great West Conference: 2010–2013
• Western Athletic Conference: 2014–2021
• Summit League: 2022–present

Source:^[11]

Awards and honors

All-Americans

Year	Position	Name	Team	Selector
1949	P	Harry Wise	3rd	ABCA
1954	OF	Richard Porter	2nd	ABCA
1956	P	John Hogg	3rd	ABCA
1957	P	John Hogg	3rd	ABCA
1957	OF	Del Peterson	2nd	ABCA
1958	C	Larry Klumb	3rd	ABCA
1959	P	Don Herrick	3rd	ABCA
1961	OF	John Koehler	3rd	ABCA
1967	SS	Greg Riddoch	3rd	ABCA
1972	C	Bob DeMeo	2nd	ABCA
1973	C	Bob DeMeo	3rd	ABCA
1974	C	Bob DeMeo	3rd	ABCA
1982	OF	Jordon Berge	3rd	ABCA
1989	OF	Tim Walstrom	1st	ABCA
1990	OF	Tim Walstrom	1st	ABCA
2003	1B	Phil Delich	2nd	ABCA
2013	OF	Nick Miller	2nd	ABCA

Freshman All-Americans

Year	Position	Name	Selector
2012	OF	Jensen Park[12]	Louisville Slugger

Conference player of the year

Year	Conference	Position	Name
2013	Great West	OF	Jensen Park
2015	WAC	OF	Jensen Park[13]

Conference coach of the year

Year	Conference	Name
2013	Great West	Carl Iwasaki

References

1. UNC Style Guide (PDF). March 1, 2018. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
2. Record Book (PDF). Northern Colorado Bears. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
3. "Outdoor Fields at UNC". www.unco.edu. University of Northern Colorado. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
4. Samuel G. Mustari (May 13, 2020). "Strong past can lead way for UNC in future on diamond". www.greeleytribune.com. Greeley Tribune. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
5. "Pete Butler, baseball and basketball coach at Colorado State College of Education (later named Colorado State College), 1940–1967". www.digarch.unco.edu. University of Northern Colorado. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
6. "UNC baseball has fresh start in Great West". www.greeleytribune.com. Greeley Tribune. February 26, 2010. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
7. "University of Northern Colorado sports teams have best Division I seasons yet". www.greeleytribune.com. Greeley Tribune. June 2, 2013. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
8. "Week in Weld: The University of Northern Colorado baseball team is all set to compete in the WAC". www.greeleytribune.com. Greeley Tribune. March 26, 2014. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
9. Jayden Watson-Fisher (July 21, 2020). "UNC baseball will reduce travel time, cost with conference change". www.greeleytribune.com. Greeley Tribune. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
10. "BSB Records Final 2017 Season" (PDF). www.uncbears.com. University of Northern Colorado. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
11. "Northern Colorado to join The Summit League as a baseball affiliate" (Press release). The Summit League. July 14, 2020. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
12. ""LOUISVILLE SLUGGER'S" FRESHMEN ALL-AMERICAN BASEBALL TEAM". www.baseballnews.com. Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Inc. June 6, 2012. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
13. "2015 All-WAC Baseball Teams Announced". www.wacsports.com. Western Athletic Conference. May 19, 2015. Retrieved November 20, 2020.