Wheaton College (MA)

Eric Podbelski is in his 28th year at the helm of the Wheaton College baseball program in 2024-25. Podbelski has built Wheaton's baseball program from the ground up, and currently ranks seventh in winning percentage among active NCAA Division III coaches at .710 (795-323-5) through Wheaton's first 27 years of varsity play. Podbelski and the program earned their 700th win on March 22, 2022 on the road at Bridgewater State University. He also stands 15th among active coaches in victories with 795. To punctuate the enormous level of respect for his unprecedented success, he was named the Coach of the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference 25-Year Anniversary Team in 2023.

Despite graduating the Region Player and Pitcher of the Year, six All-Region honorees, including four pitchers, and two All-Americans from the previous season, Podbelski authored one of his greatest coaching efforts in 2023, guiding the Lyons to a 42-9 overall record and No. 10 national-ranking, while advancing to the NCAA Division III Super Regional. The team's win total matched the school record and included a 16-1 NEWMAC record for a .941 winning percentage to represent the highest mark in conference history for a 17-game slate. Under Podbelski, Wheaton captured its third straight NEWMAC crown and 17th overall to earn its 18th NCAA Tournament bid. The Lyons did not lose consecutive games all season until the final two contests of the year and boasted a school-record eight All-Region selections, including three All-America recipients and the Region Player and Pitcher of the Year. Podbelski was deservedly recognized as the Region 1 Coach of the Year by both the American Baseball Coaches Association and D3baseball.com in addition to the NEWMAC naming Wheaton as the Coaching Staff of the Year.  

The Massachusetts native directed the Lyons to their highest win total (32-12) since 2013, including a 17-game win streak to mark the second-longest string in school history in 2022. Wheaton boasted perhaps the most formidable starting pitching staff in the region with three All-Region honorees, including the Region's Pitcher of the Year. In addition to their pitching prowess, the Lyons were led by the Region's Player of the Year in a season that saw them win the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Championship to earn a trip to their 17th NCAA Tournament and their eighth NCAA Regional Final. Podbelski was named the American Baseball Coaches Association Region 1 Coach of the Year in addition to being selected the NEWMAC Co-Coach of the Year. All told, Podbelski had the good fortune of two All-Americans and six All-Region performers among a group that did not a lose a home game at Sidell Stadium in 2022. Wheaton was ranked as high as 11th in the nation during the season.

Following a 2020 campaign that was ended prematurely due to COVID-19, Podbelski's 2021 squad made the most of the games they played during the campaign by finishing with a 21-7 record and advancing to the NCAA Division III College World Series for the fourth time in school history, while ending the season being ranked sixth in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association/D3baseball.com final poll. The Lyons won both the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference and NCAA Regional Championship to earn a spot in the College World Series. 

Under Podbelski, the Lyons have made four trips to the College World Series, earned 18 NCAA Tournament berths and appeared in all 25 NEWMAC post-season tournaments. Wheaton has won 21 or more games in every full season that Podbelski has coached, including three campaigns with 40 or more wins and 14 campaigns with 30-plus victories. The Lyons have never turned in a losing season under Podbelski's watch and have finished lower than second just once in the NEWMAC standings. The Wheaton mentor has been recognized numerous times during his wildly successful tenure in Norton, being named the NEWMAC Coach of the Year a conference-record 12 times, the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association Coach of the Year six times in addition to being chosen the Region Coach of the Year in five different years.

He has been unmatched in his player development skills, having coached 21 All-Americans, 130 All-Region honorees and 112 NEWMAC All-Conference selections to go with 15 NEWMAC Players of the Year, seven Rookies of the Year and seven Pitchers of the Year under his tutelage. Podbelski has also seen nine of his players sign contracts to play professional baseball, including Chris Denorfia '02, Jamie Baker '06, Mark Brown '06, Chris Martin '06, Adam Laplante '07, Chris McDonough '08, Jon Shepard '10, Mike Gibbons '15, Nick Raposo ‘20 and most recently, Stephen Quigley '22.

In 2019, Podbelski helped lead Wheaton to its 15th NCAA Tournament berth in a 19-year span, compiling a 29-12 record. 

In 2017, Wheaton advanced to the NCAA Division III College World Series for the third time since 2006. The Lyons concluded the season 27-17 overall while earning its 14th NCAA Tournament nod following their 19th-straight NEWMAC postseason appearance dating back to 1999.

In 2016, Wheaton went 31-13 en route to securing its 14th NEWMAC tournament championship. In addition, the Lyons went on to compete in the NCAA New England Regional Baseball Tournament as the No. 1 seed.

In 2013, the Lyons claimed their 14th NEWMAC regular season championship and 13th NEWMAC Tournament title in the 15-year history of the conference (at the time). As a result, Wheaton earned its 12th NCAA Tournament berth in 14 seasons. Podbelski's squad also recorded the program's ninth-straight 30-win season after being ranked preseason favorites in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National Preseason Poll and the D3baseball.com Preseason Poll.

In 2012, Wheaton recorded the program's second-ever 40-win season compiling a 41-11 mark en route to an appearance in the NCAA Division III College World Series national championship round, where the Lyons finished as the National Runner-up for the second time in school annals. Wheaton placed seven student-athletes on the NEWMAC All-Conference team, four on the D3baseball.com All-Region team and four more on the NEIBA All-New England team. Podbelski also garnered NEIBA Coach of the Year honors while two of his student-athletes were named to the NEWMAC Academic All-Conference team. Wheaton finished the 2012 season ranked no.9 in the last D3baseball.com Top-25 national rankings.

In addition to winning 17 NEWMAC Tournament titles since 1999, the Lyons also hosted the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament in 1999 and qualified for their first ECAC Tournament in 1998 – the team's first year of varsity competition. Eight years later, the 2006 squad made the school’s first national championship game appearance while going 42-10 and recording the highest win total in team history.

Wheaton’s first MLB draftee, Chris Denorfia '02, was taken by the Cincinnati Reds in the 19th round in the June 2002 MLB Amateur Draft. After making his MLB debut with the Reds in 2005, Denorfia went on to appear in 808 major league games over 10 seasons with the Reds, Athletics, Padres, Mariners and Cubs. A career .272 hitter, Denorfia collected 587 hits, including 41 home runs, 17 triples and 103 doubles. The Bristol, Conn. native amassed 289 runs scored and 56 stolen bases.  A regular for five seasons in San Diego, appearing in 573 games with the Padres, Denorfia also appeared in seven postseason games with the Cubs to close out his major league career.

In addition to his baseball coaching duties, Podbelski has also served on the NCAA and ECAC Tournament selection committees.

A 1991 graduate of Brandeis University, Podbelski finished his career as one of the school's all-time winningest pitchers with 23 victories. After a junior year in which he was named to three postseason all-star teams, he was invited to play for the Falmouth Commodores in the prestigious Cape Cod League.

Podbelski went on to serve as an assistant coach at Brandeis for five years. Under his direction, Podbelski's pitching staff was among the national leaders in team earned run average four times, including in 1994, when it led Division III in ERA at 2.33.

In high school, Podbelski was a standout baseball player at Plymouth-Carver Regional. Named to numerous all-star and all-scholastic teams, he capped his high school career by being selected as a Golden Spikes Award finalist and playing in the 1987 United States Olympic Festival as a member of the USA East team.