Don Hetzel is pictured here in his first Mountaineer baseball team photo from 1964. In the first row, from left to right are: Jerry Milliken, Phil Douglas, captain Dale Ramsburg, Ron Renner, Jeff O’Neil and Grant Mullen. In the second row, from left to right, are: Chester Wright, Chuck Kinder, Mike Dyer, Bob Munchin, Bill Marovic, Vaughn Kovach, Joe DeFazio and Larry Sindelar. In the third row, from left to right, are: Coach Steve Harrick, John Nieman, John Radosevich, Hetzel, Charles Wallace, John Ellis, Steve Berzansky and Manager John Satterfield. Courtesy photo

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Jefferson County has historically gained the reputation as a haven for baseball and it’s a place where the sport has an unmistakable niche in people’s minds.

From Bakerton to Summit Point and Leetown, baseball has been enjoyed by players in Little League, rural sandlots, now-gone adult leagues and even on well-manicured diamonds where one-time professional players performed in front of paying Sunday crowds.

West Virginia University, in the coaching days of likeable Steve Harrick, had probably the best player from a county high school to ever play for any Mountaineer baseball team.

Outfielder Don Hetzel was a three-year starter for the ever-achieving Mountaineers from the 1964 season through the 1966 season and was the captain of the 1966 team.

Hetzel batted over .300 in all three of his years in Morgantown and was even accorded All-Southern Conference recognition in both 1965 and 1966.

NCAA rules in those days prevented athletes from participating in varsity sports during their freshman year, so they had three-year careers instead of four.

The Harrick-led Mountaineers usually reigned over their Southern Conference brethren, often reaching the NCAA Tournament which was held in eight Districts, before staging its season-closing College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

As champion of the Southern Conference, West Virginia went to the District III tournament to see the likes of Wake Forest, Florida State, Duke and Florida.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in education in 1966, Hetzel also earned a master’s degree in 1968 — both degrees from WVU.

His post-WVU occupational paths first took him to Davis & Elkins College, where he was both the baseball and cross country coach in 1968 and 1969.

Maybe it was the harsh winters of Elkins that helped him to decide to move to south Florida to coach baseball at Miami Dade Junior College.

Coming back to this area of the mid-Atlantic found him taking the positions of head baseball and tennis coach at Handley High School in Winchester, Va. from 1973 to 1977.

Then in 1977, the Jefferson County native became the athletic director at Jefferson High School in Shenandoah Junction, staying in that position until retiring in 2003.

He had been recognized in 1989 with the Award of Merit by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.

Hetzel’s three seasons at WVU showed him hitting .302 as a sophomore in 1964, improving to .355 as a junior in 1965 and completing his career with a .311 batting average as a senior in 1966. His “lifetime” batting stats as a Mountaineer showed him with 72 hits in 222 at-bats for a stellar .324 career batting average.

Harrick’s teams recorded a 333-161 career record for a .674 winning percentage in his decades in Morgantown.

Hetzel still resides in Jefferson County and has even seen his grandsons play college baseball, following in his considerable footsteps.