Saint Leo's Cisco Johnson's single-season stolen base record has stood for 22 years and counting.
They say that records were made to be broken. But that may not always be true.
We searched the DII baseball record books and found a few that could very well survive the test of time. Here are DII baseball's seven unbreakable records.
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Stolen bases in a single season: 96
A plaque still hangs at Saint Leo's campus commemorating Cisco Johnson's record-setting run.
The 96 stolen bases are astounding in its own right, especially when you see that the second-most in history is Rashad Ingram’s (Saint Augustine’s) 80. What’s even more remarkable is that he did it in just 49 games, essentially swiping two bases a game (1.96 to be exact), where it took Ingram six more games to steal 16 fewer bases. Johnson got caught just seven times that season, recording a 93.2 percent success rate. Not only did Cisco Johnson have a great baseball name, he had some wheels.
Consecutive games with a home run: 9
Chase Larsson had a monster season for Cameron in 2011. He hit .432 and his 29 home runs led all of DII baseball that season. Nine of those came in consecutive games.
From March 18 to April 1, 2011, Larsson hit at least one home run. He went 13-for-30 over that torrid stretch which came to an end after a 3-for-4 performance in which Larsson smacked two homers.
Innings pitched in a game: 19
In today’s era of pitch counts and inning limits, this record will be Sam Newby’s for eternity. On May 7, 1977, Morningside and Omaha played a 19-inning ball game, which was the longest in the now-defunct North Central Conference’s history. Morningside’s Sam Newby pitched every one of them. Newby led the team in wins and innings pitched that year, and should have got credit for an extra game pitched having to essentially pitch two in one day.
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You can file this one under the new era of baseball as well. Fowlkes was an All-America in 1980 with Cal Poly Pomona. He started 23 games that season and 19 of them were complete games, both of which still stand as DII baseball's single-season mark. Fowlkes went an incredible 21-2, the 21 wins yet another DII single-season record as were his unimaginable 206 innings pitched, 31 more than the next closest pitcher ever has. Fowlkes was one of the last of his kind, and that incredible 1980 season was one for the ages.
Putouts in a single game: 36
Bentley and Rollins battled for 16 innings on February 16, 2013. Both teams had a tough time scoring runs, and Evan Mondor was a large reason for that.
Mondor recorded a single-game record 36 putouts manning first base in that marathon. Most impressively it was on a total of 36 chances, also a DII baseball record. Mondor was perfect on the day. It was only fitting that it was his RBI single that finally ended the game in Bentley’s favor in the 16th inning.
Margin of victory: 70 runs
On April 2, 1996, St. Francis (IL) routed Robert Morris (IL) in four innings with their own record book of unbreakable records. The final score was 71-1 and that was after only four innings. St. Francis, a dual member of the NAIA and DII baseball, jumped all over Robert Morris, and they did it quickly forcing them to surrender after four innings. Here are just some of the more eye-popping numbers from that game that still stand as single-game records:
- 10: Triples in a game
- 11: Bases on balls in an inning
- 26: Runs in an inning
- 44: Hits in a game
- 53: RBI in a game (due to 16 errors, not every run was an official RBI)
- 70: largest margin of victory
Brian Mazurek had himself a day to remember. St. Francis got 71 players to cross home plate and only one came via the long ball, which was hit by Mazurek on his way to the cycle. But he entered the DII baseball record books with nine RBI in a single inning.
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Think about how hard that is. When Jim LaFountain blasted an unthinkable three grand slams in one game, two of those came in the same inning. That incredible feat only netted eight RBI in an inning. Somehow, Mazurek one-upped him. His partner in crime Mike Holcomb entered the record books himself, scoring nine runs, still the most in a game today.
Hitting streak: 54-straight games
This is a fun one because this former DII superstar has gone on to find success in Major League Baseball. Kevin Pillar, now with the San Francisco Giants, has made a name for himself with his glove in the big leagues, but in DII baseball, he was able to get the bat on the ball.
A lot.
From Feb. 8 to May 8, 2010, Pillar recorded at least one hit in every game, a span that included 54 games in 89 days. Pillar played in 61 games that season, leaving him hittless in just seven. He finished the season with a .379 batting average and an 0.949 OPS. Six DII baseball athletes have had hitting streaks longer than 40, but no one other than Pillar has ever cracked the 50-game mark.
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