Ron Torgalski, Buffalo Bulls

Ron Torgalski has given his blood, sweat and tears to the University of Buffalo baseball program. The school reinstated the program in time for the 2000 season and Torgalski has been a part of the Bulls throughout those 18 years, including seven as an assistant coach and the past 11 as head coach. Despite playing in a subpar facility and operating with an average of 6.5 scholarships on an annual basis, Torgalski has done an excellent job of keeping the Bulls competitive while going up against fully funded programs in the Mid-American Conference.

Along the way Torgalski was named the 2013 MAC Coach of the Year after the team won 33 games to set an all-time program record for wins in a season. The Bulls won 19 games in the Mid-American Conference campaign, another record, and lost out on the regular season title on the last day of the slate. The team won all nine weekend conference series, and never had a losing streak longer than three games. Senior center fielder Jason Kanzler was named the conference’s Player of the Year. After a program-best eight weekly awards were earned by UB players over the course of the season, six players made the All-MAC postseason teams to set another program high-water mark. For the second straight season, the team made the MAC tournament, playing in three games.

To date, Torgalski has coached two MAC Players of the Year, 48 MAC weekly honorees, eight MLB draft picks, four Freshman All-Americans, 25 All-MAC selections, and 14 Academic All-MAC honorees. Sixteen players have signed pro contracts.

Those achievements meant little, however, when the school announced on April 3, 2017, the the university was eliminating the baseball program along with men’s soccer, men’s track and field and women’s rowing at the end of this school year. The timing could not have been worse for the Bulls’ baseball program, which was in the middle of its season and had yet to host its first home game. The announcement sent shockwaves throughout college baseball. University of Minnesota head coach John Anderson expressed his concern about the move on a College Baseball Now podcast and the ripple effect such a decision can have on the game.

In the College Baseball Now podcast, Torgalski speaks candidly about his team’s situation as it heads down the stretch of the 2017 season.