HANCEVILLE, ALA. – Wallace State baseball coach Randy Putman has reached the 1,100-win club. His Lions won a four-game series against Jefferson (Mo.) College over the weekend, earning the milestone in the series opener, a 9-2 victory.
In his 31st season, Putman has a career 1,102-494 record (.690 winning percentage) at Wallace State. He's currently fourth all-time in wins among active coaches within the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I ranks.
Putman has been inducted into four Hall of Fames, including being named a NJCAA Hall of Fame coach in 2006. He has led his teams to seven ACCC titles and six World Series appearances and coached six eventual MLB players at Wallace State.
"Getting to 1,100 wins is exciting. The players were more excited than me when it was clinched," Putman said. "I was more pleased that we won three of four games against a good baseball team. We're making headway, but we've still got a long way to go. You can't improve inside. You have to hope the weather cooperates and get games in. We're less than two weeks away from conference play."
Wallace State (5-5) won the first three games of the series, prevailing 9-2, 2-0 and 8-7. The Lions dropped the finale, 5-2.
In the 9-2 win, lefty Jacob Smith was the winning pitcher in relief, scattering two runs on four hits in five innings.
Kevin Dowdell hit a solo homer, had two RBIs, stole a base and scored three runs, while Breydon Edmondson had three RBIs. Ty Hill had a pair of singles, David Rutledge had two RBIs and Colton Yeager and Brennan McCullough each had a double. Yeager and Jack Haney each had an RBI.
In the 2-0 win, Hunter Goodwin, Drew Talley and Rutledge combined on a two-hitter. Talley recorded seven strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings.
McCullough had a single and an RBI. Nicho Jordan and Garrett Warden each added a single.
In the 8-7 victory, McCullough had a pair of singles and an RBI, Jarren Wright had a double and two RBIs and Ty Hill added a run-scoring triple. Rutledge finished with a double and a pair of RBIs and Jordan also had an RBI.
Caden Higgins was the winning pitcher in relief.
Haney and Yeager each had an RBI in the lone loss.