Moeller, Westminster get passionate payoff with state title

Ten minutes after he and his team had first-place medals draped about their necks for winning the Class 1A state baseball title Saturday, Westminster Christian baseball coach Jeff Moeller sat down at a table with three of his players and took questions from reporters, the proud coach's eyes still reddened from tears of joy.

Asked if it was an emotional day for him, Moeller said "Are you kidding me? I cry at chick flicks, so you can imagine."

Though a Sandra Bullock movie may tug at his heartstrings, the ninth-year coach was clearly heartened by the way his team blind sided Goreville 15-5 to win the school's first state title in any sport.

Moreover, his tears of joy resulted from the culmination of a decade-long journey. It took 10 years for the Westminster Christian baseball program to go from worst to first.

It took a dedicated, supportive community, too.

How far has the Westminster baseball program come? In 2000, the Warriors found themselves on the business end of a 51-1 loss to Hampshire. Elgin is closer to Beijing than the Warriors were to a state title.

The rise of the Westminster Christian baseball program began the following year, when athletic director Rick Palmer picked Moeller to be the team's new coach. Of course, success is rarely achieved overnight. Nor does it arrive without paying dues.

Moeller's first team in 2001 finished with a record of 1-17, and the Warriors went a combined 31-92 in his first five seasons. There were days when he had to make desperate phone calls to find a Westminster student willing to wear the jersey just so he could field nine players. He had to beg in some cases.

But Moeller had a vision, one supported by Palmer even if the two didn't always see eye to eye on every last detail. Tired of playing every game on the road or at an Elgin-area public park, Moeller became a driving force behind the construction of a beautiful on-campus baseball facility, which ranks among the best in the Fox Valley area.

The man hours the coach spent on the field's construction equated to a second job. And the Westminster community pitched in, first and foremost financially, but also with hard labor. Parents, players, coaches - seemingly everyone took turns with a rake or a shovel to build the diamond gem on Highland Ave.

The new field was ready in the spring of 2007, and so were the players. Powered by a talented junior class that included pitcher Ben Palmer and catcher Carter Ward, among others, the Warriors posted their first winning season under Moeller (25-14). Playing in the old two-class playoff system, Westminster won its first sectional and supersectional titles on Memorial Day 2007 to qualify for the state tournament for the first time. They lost in the quarterfinals, but the bar was set for the classes that followed.

Optimism was high for a return trip to state, but the next two seasons ended in playoff disappointment. In 2008, the senior-led team of Ben Palmer and Ward finished 25-10-1 but lost to Immaculate Conception in a sectional final, 5-1.

In 2009, standout Brandon Siewert led a team that finished 26-9 after falling to Alden-Hebron in a regional title game, 3-1.

Moeller said he was disappointed by those results because he felt the 2008 and 2009 teams were of state champion caliber, but his vision never wavered. He and his coaching staff went back to work, and their dedication was finally rewarded Saturday.

"I always knew that he had it in him," Rick Palmer said of Moeller, his voice cracking before he took a moment to compose himself. "You can hire a coach, but you can't hire the passion in a coach. And he has the passion."

The Warriors' amazing run to the state title - led by senior captains Joe McGannon (Beloit College) and Brandon Weingartner (Wisconsin Lutheran), along with sophomore pitchers Ryan Perez and Kevin Elder - was Moeller's reward for years of struggle. It serves as an example that big dreams are attainable if everyone involved pulls together and works toward the same goal. And works hard.

"We stayed passionate about it and here we are. I guess passion can do a lot for you," Moeller said. "We've got some kids who buy into what we're trying to do and it worked."

Expect it to keep working. The Warriors know full well after the previous two seasons that success in 2011 is no guarantee, even with the entire pitching staff returning. In the next two weeks, Westminster will find out whether its ever-growing enrollment will force a bump up to Class 2A, which would make the state tournament that much tougher to win.

But with a coach who remains driven, it's likely the gleaming first-place trophy attained Saturday will be joined by others in the decade to come.

"We're not going to lay down and just be happy with what we did now," said Moeller, whose career record at Westminster now stands at 137-132-1. "We're going to keep pushing the envelope. That's how the program is now because we pushed it."

Summer baseball starts next week, but for now no one could blame the coach if he sits back, relaxes and slides a good chick flick into his DVD player.

Let the waterworks begin.

jfitzpatrick@dailyherald.com

<div id="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Related stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=386054">Westminster Christian first Elgin school to win state baseball title <span class="date">[06/06/10]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=386003">Photo gallery from championship game <span class="date">[06/06/10]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>