Land of success: Longtime Lincoln Land baseball coach set to retire as bona fide winner
The Lincoln Land Community College baseball team has long championed a legacy of success.
Over the last 55 years, the Loggers have sported just two head coaches: Claude Kracik and Ron Riggle.
The two have combined for more than 1,600 wins over that entire period.
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Riggle continues to add to that prodigious tally in his 22nd season at the helm and is destined for a 16th consecutive winning season — but it will be his last. He will retire as both head coach and athletic director at the end of the season.
“Obviously it’s different with it being the last time and knowing it’s the last time, but that’s OK,” Riggle said. “It’s time, and I’m having a great time.”
End of an era
The 1986 Springfield High alum previously played for Kracik for two seasons before returning as an assistant coach in 1990. He assumed the mantle after Kracik retired in 2002.
Now his assistant coach and former high school teammate, Steve Torricelli, will take over as head coach next year.
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“I think the banners on the wall really just show why he’s that good of a coach,” said local sophomore product Hunter Moser. “He gets all of the good players from around the 217 area. He wants to win and he’s a fun coach to be around, and I think he’s very good at attracting players around here.”
A whopping 231 players have proceeded to play at other baseball programs over Riggle’s 34 years of coaching. That includes 80 to NCAA Division I. Twenty have reached the professional ranks, including nine as head coach.
The program's clout — and Riggle’s, for that matter — undoubtedly extends beyond central Illinois.
“This place is special,” said sophomore pitcher Jack Wajda, who hails from the Chicago area. “We just like to win.”
DI talent
The main objective is clear.
The Loggers want to send Riggle back to Enid, Oklahoma and win a national title.
Riggle has contributed to eight NJCAA Division II World Series appearances over his coaching tenure, including four as head coach in 2014, 2015, 2019 and 2021. He twice assisted Kracik’s teams to the national title in 1994 and 2000.
“We want to go out on top with coach,” Torricelli said. “At the end of the day, that’s our goal. It’s great to win a bunch of games, but we want to win the right games when it matters and put ourselves in a situation to go to our ninth national tournament.”
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Riggle entered his final season with at least several NCAA Division I commits: pitchers Wajda (Murray State), Mitch Dye (Illinois), Porter Conn (Kansas), Eli Curtis (Memphis) and shortstop Wandel Campana (Western Illinois). Catcher Grant Pohlman will play at NAIA Georgia Gwinnett College.
“I don’t think we’re relying on one way or the other,” Riggle said. “We went through some tough times on the mound and our hitters picked us up, and there’s been games when we’ve thrown it really well and didn’t score as many runs.
“I think it just depends on the day, but for the most part, everybody has been picking everybody up.”
Wajda, a New Lenox Providence Catholic graduate, recently threw a complete game in seven innings en route to a 5-3 win over Lewis and Clark at Claude Kracik Field on Friday, March 29. He tallied nine strikeouts with eight hits, one walk and three runs allowed.
Conn also tossed a complete game the previous weekend in a 4-0 victory over Parkland College. He gave up just four hits and one walk with nine strikeouts in seven innings.
“He coaches hard, but he’s fair,” Wajda said of Riggle. “He expects the most out of us. That’s all I can really ask for in a coach is to trust us as a team to go out there, and I think he does a great job.
“We want him to get back to Enid, and we’re just doing this all for him.”
Freshman Andrew Randazzo (.391 with 30 RBIs and 36 runs) and Pohlman (.408 with 25 RBIs and 30 runs) paced the offense through the first 29 games.
Campana, of Havana, has savored the experience after hearing about Riggle through one of his high school coaches. Campana said he has learned how to carry himself as a professional every day.
“It’s a fun time,” Campana said. “You kind of pick his brain every now and then, just talking about everything he’s been through.
“You look at all of these banners out here and national championship plaques on the wall, you realize he did most of these. It’s nice to be part of this last ride and go out there and try to win some for him.”
Moser also knew Riggle to a certain degree in high school. He played with Riggle’s nephew, Jake Seman, on the Williamsville football team.
“He’s taught me a lot about the game,” Moser said, “not just the physical side but a lot of the mental side of it: Play every pitch like it’s your last and compete every time, every pitch.”
Logger for life
Riggle collected his 700th career win in the team’s first triumph of the season on Feb. 17.
He has ultimately compiled a 723-449 overall record as head coach. The Loggers (24-9) are building toward another banner season, but it’s more about developing young players for the next level.
“That’s what it’s all about is bringing them here and giving them an opportunity to get better and moving them on and letting them continue their dream to play college baseball,” Riggle said. “It’s what we do here. We just love to do it.”
He fully intends to keep tabs on his former players wherever they may be.
“Those are the things that mean the most to me,” Riggle said. “Baseball ends for everybody at some point and guys are always Loggers for life.”
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Lincoln Land baseball thrives in coach Ron Riggle’s final season
