Baseball coaches with 1,000 combined wins live here
HUNTLEY — Huntley is now home to two 500-win club of head baseball coaches.
The number doubled when McHenry County College baseball head coach Jared Wacker’s team secured his milestone victory over Elgin. Wacker joins Huntley High School head baseball coach Andy Jakubowski, who had 535 career wins as of May 3, with 506 triumphs.
Wacker, in his 13th year as head coach of the Scots, discussed his 500th win achievement and team strengths prior to the final regular season home game.
“We have very strong pitching depth, plus the hitting started to figure it out a few weeks into the season,” Wacker said.
The Scots, who won the Skyway Conference championship with a 12-1 record stood at 36-11 overall. They are led in the pitching department by a trio of seven-game winners, Dylan Petrey of Hampshire; Joe Wizceb of Vernon Hills and Gavin Micklinghoff of McHenry (who is headed to Northern Illinois University next season).
One key point to the MCC program’s success, with its second league title in three years, is working with McHenry County schools.
“We have great relationships with county high school coaches, who have very successful programs,” he said. “We have players who come back to play baseball at MCC, but most are freshmen from area high schools.”
Jakubowski congratulated fellow coach with Huntley ties Wacker with joining the 500-win group. The Red Raiders have added another 20 wins this season to their coach’s career win total after he gained his 500th early last season.
“Coach Wacker does a tremendous job at MCC,” Jakubowski said. “He is an excellent recruiter and he recruits the area hard where he gets some of the top talent in the area and moves them onto four-year schools.”
What makes this year’s Scots’ team, aiming for another Region IV title and JUCO World Series trip such as 2016, click?
Offensively, the Scots have more than 25 home runs but can place a much-needed bunt down the line, or execute a double steal, as Madison College learned in a 9-8 loss May 1. MCC is closing in on another 40-win season, their sixth straight (minus the COVID-19 year) and a hoped for Region IV title in next week’s start to the post-season.
“It’s very important to be versatile on offense,” Wacker said. “It can be warm and the wind blowing out at 20 MPH like today or it can be snowing and you have to score runs. Our leading hitters have been Owen Nowak; Jackson Dibble, who has more than 50 RBI; lead-off man Ryan Swarek, Christian Graves and Brandon Hanley.”
Before batting practice, some MCC players discussed their paths to junior college ball and the team’s recent success.
“It was crazy,” Hanley, a catcher from Huntley, said, of the 500th win. “We dumped water on coach Wacker afterward.”
“I love it,” sophomore pitcher Mark DeCicco, a Crystal Lake South alumnus, said. “It’s the culture of the team because all have one goal, to move on and continue playing. I’ll be playing at University of Illinois-Springfield next year. Coach does a great job of getting us into showcases for four-year colleges.”
DeCicco pitched at the IHSA State Baseball tournament when the Gators advanced in 2022.
Goodard, a sophomore catcher from Hononegah in Rockton, was looking for a college to attend three years ago and picked MCC. He stayed with the Scots despite missing all of last season due to injury.
“We have pitchers who can bring it with speed as well as off-speed types. Plus, we have one of the best defenses in the country,” Goodard said.
Wacker’s baseball background
Wacker grew up in Marengo and is a former pitcher who played baseball in 1999-2000 at MCC and later at Elmhurst College. He grew up admiring the talents of Ken Griffey Jr. and Ricky Henderson.
“I grew up around baseball and learned a lot from my dad’s conversations with coaches,” Wacker said. “I coached at Rock Valley College before coming here 13 years ago.”
He enjoyed playing on a Class A sectional basketball championship at Marengo for legendary coach Homer “Bill” Barry. Now his family resides in Huntley and two daughters are both active in sports and attend D158 schools.
His main goal is for the Scots to win today’s game, which they did over Madison College.
“The post-season is such a small sample size. You have to play well and take care of all the little things, because one loss ends your season,” the coach said.
