N.C Wesleyan earned their first NCAA D-III World Series title. N.C. Wesleyan athletics photo

The 1989 Battling Bishop baseball squad brought home the College’s first NCAA D-III National Championship when Wesleyan defeated California State-Stanislaus by an 8-7 score on June 4th, 1989 at Muzzy Field in Bristol, Connecticut.  The game, which lasted 13 innings, still ranks as the longest National Championship game in Division III history.

North Carolina Wesleyan pitcher Mark Silletti held opposing batters at bay through two games in the same day and in the title tilt, teammate Eric Jarman hit a solo home run in the top of the 13th inning in the title game, delivering the winning run.

• Game-by-game results
• Division III baseball championships record book

Jarman, a junior center fielder, hit Robert Sapp's fastball over the 370-foot sign in right-center field to give the Battling Bishops their first Division III baseball title. Jarman went 5-for-7 in the championship contest and hit .515 (17-for-33) for the tournament with three home runs, including two in the final game.

Stanislaus managed to advance the tying runner to second in the bottom of the frame, but Silletti forced a groundout and fly ball for the final two outs, igniting the victory celebration.

In a game between the two teams earlier the same day, Silletti held Cal State Stanislaus to four hits in a 3-0 victory. He then entered the championship game in the seventh inning with two outs, a 6-5 lead and runners on first and second base. He promptly foiled the Warriors' rally by getting Matt Basgall to fly out to center field. Silletti then pitched the remaining six innings to post his second win of the day.

While Jarman was leading the offensive charge, Silletti was turning in one of the most impressive performances in World Series history.  A senior righty from Bethpage, N.Y., Silletti won three of his teams five games (23.1 of the team’s 53 innings), including both games of the final afternoon.

The ’89 Series saw 27 individual or team records broken and/or equaled.  The Bishops were involved in all but six of those performances and became only the second team in the 14-year history of the tournament to have to win five games to win the title.  Jarman, Silletti, James Anderson, Erik Dube, M.J. Weller, and Doug Flowers were named All-Tournament, while Anderson, a team captain, was the recipient of the Series’ John Farmer Most Valuable Player Award. 

Another notable roster member, Jim Pittman, was happy to bring the College’s first National Championship trophy back to his native Rocky Mount.  Pittman was named Most Valuable Player of the ’89 squad in just his freshman campaign.  Wesleyan finished the season with a 33-11-1 record and was ranked ninth in the final national poll.

The ‘89 roster includes five individuals that have previously been inducted into the NCWC Hall of Fame:  Head Coach Mike Fox (1999), Flowers (2001), Jarman (2001), Rusty Dail (2004), and Rich McNee (2005).  The entire 1989 North Carolina Wesleyan Battling Bishop,s were inducted in 2006.