The baseball program is one of Ithaca’s most successful athletic endeavors. Historical highlights include:
* National Championships in 1980 and 1988
* A string of 81 consecutive winning seasons — the longest streak ever by a Division III team — and only two below-.500 record in the program’s 92 years. Streak ended in 2020 after the season was canceled seven games into the year.
* Appearances in 51 NCAA Championships dating back to 1955
* Four coaches — three of whom has earned a spot in the Ithaca College Athletic Hall of Fame
* An overall 1,799-742-13 record (a .707 winning percentage).
In 1931, Joe Tatascore coached the first Ithaca team, which finished 7-3.
James A. “Bucky” Freeman began a 31-year coaching career in 1932. He posted a career winning percentage of .772 (283-83-2) and led the Bombers to four NCAA tournament appearances at a time when all NCAA teams played in the same division. Freeman’s teams had winning seasons in 30 of his years, finishing one game below .500 in the other season.
The 1955 and 1959 teams were the first to qualify for postseason play. Six members of the class of 1959 signed professional baseball contracts.
Freeman’s 1962 team posted a 15-0 regular-season record, won the District 2 regional playoffs and became one of the smallest schools to compete at the College World Series. The Bombers upset Missouri in the opener, 5-1, before losing one-run decisions to Florida State and Texas.
The 1962 baseball team became the first team ever honored for its achievement by the Ithaca College Athletics Hall of Fame, and was inducted in 2013.
Eddie Sawyer, the second Ithaca player to sign a professional baseball contract, went on to manage the Philadelphia Phillies to the 1950 National League pennant. Grover “Deacon” Jones went to the major leagues as a player and also served as a hitting instructor. George Kissell spent nearly 60 years affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals after leaving Ithaca. Ithaca head coaches Carlton “Carp” Wood and George Valesente played for Freeman.
In 1969, Freeman was inducted into the American Association of Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, and inducted as a charter member of the Ithaca College Athletic Hall of Fame. Freeman stepped down in 1965 and gave the team to Wood, who had coached the junior varsity program from 1954 to 1964. Wood’s varsity teams never had a losing season and made NCAA tournaments nine times at the Collegiate, College Division and Division III levels.
Under Wood, Ithaca advanced to the World Series in 1973, 1976 and 1978. The team reached the 1973 championship game, losing to California-Irvine, 9-6. The Bombers competed for the first Division III crown in 1976 but lost in the title game. Wood was honored by the American Association of Baseball Coaches as College Division coach of the year in 1973 and shared the honor in 1976.
All-American Rich Miller was one of the top performers under coach Wood. Miller, the first dean of the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance at Ithaca, hit .368 in his career and signed with the San Francisco Giants. Pitcher Paul Patterson posted record-setting numbers in his two seasons of intercollegiate competition before signing with the Chicago White Sox. He struck out an average of 8.9 batters per nine innings in a Bomber career that included 147.3 innings of work. Tom Welch, the first Ithaca baseball player to receive First-Team All-American honors, hit .426 in his two seasons.
Wood retired in 1978 and handed the team over to Valesente, another Freeman protégé. One of Division III’s winningest active coaches, Valesente guided Ithaca to national championships in 1980 and 1988.
In 1980, Ithaca overcame a first round loss to Upsala in the World Series by capturing four straight games to win the championship. That team led Division III in batting with a .363 average and in earned run average as well, with a 2.15 mark. Dave Axenfeld captured the Division III individual crown that year with a 0.78 earned run average. Glen Cook, who went 7-0 that spring, was drafted by the Texas Rangers and reached the major leagues in 1986, becoming the second Bomber to appear in a major league game. The Bombers led NCAA Division III in batting average again in 1983, when the team hit a school-record .372.
The 1988 title was also dramatic, as the Bombers rallied from a 5-3 deficit in the final game to defeat Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 7-5. Pitcher Joe Sottolano earned the World Series outstanding player award after his two wins during the tournament. Four members of the 1988 team signed professional contracts: outfielders Steve Graham and Vince Roman, catcher Fritz Hamburg and third baseman Brian Parrotte.
Ithaca has made five trips to the Division III World Series since winning the 1988 national championship. Ithaca's most recent appearance came in the 2013 season, when a record-setting campaign saw the Bombers win 41 games and finish third in the NCAA Division III World Series in Appleton, Wis. Tim Locastro, Pat Lemmo and John Prendergast were named All-Americans following the 2013 season.
Valesente was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, joining four other members of the Ithaca coaching circle: Freeman, Dave Chamberlain, Dick Rockwell and Ted Thoren (Ithaca graduates who spent long careers coaching Monroe Community College, Le Moyne and Cornell, respectively).
In the last 30 years, more than 30 Bombers have signed with professional teams, including Shane Wolf, who advanced to the Double-A level in the Houston Astros organization. Tucker Healy moved up the the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics in the 2014 season, and that same summer, Tim Locastro was selected for the Northwest League All-Star Game for the Class-A Vancouver Canadians. Locastro was a consensus All-American in 2013 and was drafted in the 13th round of the 2013 MLB Entry Draft, the highest draft pick in Ithaca College program history.
Locastro made his Major League debut at the end of the 2017 season for the Los Angeles Dodgers in Colorado and earned his first career start on May 3, 2018 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
In 2019, Ithaca played its final season in the Empire 8 Conference. The Bombers were part of the conference since 2000 and won 17 titles (out of 20), including a string of nine straight from 2001-09 and eight more in a row from 2012-19. IC won every E8 Tournament, which began in 2015. Emmett Dunn, the Empire 8 Pitcher of the Year, would go on to be named All-American by D3baseball.com, while Matt Carey earned CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-America honors.
In June 2019, Valesente announced his retirement after 41 seasons with the program. Valesente wrapped up his legendary career at IC with an overall record of 1,136-507-8 on South Hill and a collegiate coaching record of 1,196-547-8 in 46 years. Valesente's long-time assistant Frank Fazio '67, also retired at the conclusion of the 2019 campaign.
In August 2019, David Valesente, the son of George, was named the fourth head coach in the program's 86-year history. D. Valesente began his coaching career at Wells College in Aurora, N.Y. for three seasons before he came to Ithaca.
The 2020 season was canceled after seven games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ithaca was 1-6 on the season at the time of the cancelation. In 2021, Ithaca played its first full season within the Liberty League and went 16-12-1 overall and finished third in the conference.
IC returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2022 after winning the program's first Liberty League title. The Bombers reached the NCAA Super Regional, which was hosted in Ithaca, and finished the season with a 34-14 record. D. Valesente and his staff were named Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year and ABCA Region 3 Coaching Staff of the Year, while Buzz Shirley was named an All-American, Connor Pedersen was the Liberty League Rookie of the Year and Kyle Lambert was the Pitcher of the Year. Those three also set new school records in doubles (Shirley), hits (Pedersen) and strikeouts (Lambert).
The Bombers made another trip to the Super Regional in 2023 as IC finished the season with a 31-16 record. Ithaca claimed its second straight Liberty League title and won the Cortland Regional, sweeping both tournaments. Garrett Callaghan was named All-American and Lambert was an Academic All-American, while Valesente was Coach of the Year for Region 3 by the ABCA for the second straight season. Lambert also reset his single season record in strikeouts with 101.
In 2024, Ithaca won its third straight Liberty League championship to appeared in the program's 51st NCAA Tournament. Ithaca finished the season with a 31-11 record as David Valesente earned his 100th win as IC's head coach and Louis Fabbo sets the Bombers' career record for hits with 227.
Ithaca went 26-15 in 2025 and was the No. 1 seed in the Liberty League Tournament. Jack Picozzi was named the Liberty League Pitcher of the Year, while the Bombers placed nine on All-Liberty League teams.
All-Americans
1980 NCAA Championship
1988 NCAA Championship
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