Hall of Fame
Led by twin mound aces Joe Niekro and Frank Ujcich, the West Liberty baseball team brought the first national championship trophy back to the hilltop by winning the 1964 NAIA World Series.
Head coach George Kovalick’s West Virginia Conference champions stumbled out of the blocks on Opening Day at Phil Welch Stadium in St. Joseph, Mo. with a 2-1 loss to Wartburg (Iowa) in a 16-inning marathon but the Black and Gold didn’t lose again. West Liberty rolled through the consolation bracket, capped by a 5-0 shutout of Georgia Southern in the consolation final. The Hilltoppers then swept Grambling State by scores of 6-4 and 3-2 to earn the title of national champions.
Ujcich was voted World Series MVP after hurling a record 22 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings. Niekro also excelled on the mound, highlighted by a 10-inning complete-game win against Sam Houston State, while freshman Joe Doerr led all hitters with a .468 batting average. Ujcich, Fred Chambers and Floyd Shuler were honored as NAIA All-Americans.
Rounding out West Liberty’s national championship roster were Jim Benedetto, Dave Forgash, Bob Kota, Dave Kovalick, Gerry Kraynick, Gordon Long, John Pavlisko, Glenn Petty, Ray Prantil, Ron Romanoski,  Dave Scherr and Gary Zelinski.
