It was the 1965 West Virginia University baseball opener against Waynesburg College on a brisk, March afternoon at old Hawley Field where the WVU Coliseum now sits along Monongahela Boulevard.

Radosevich, from nearby Ronco, Pa., situated between Waynesburg and Uniontown on Route 21, was familiar with the Waynesburg team having grown up close to the campus. In hindsight, the Waynesburg players were probably more familiar with him.

At any rate, the senior lefthander began the game by walking the first three batters. The next hitter hit a bloop triple down the leftfield line, clearing the bases. Radosevich (pronounced Rah-DOUGH-suh-vich) walked two more batters to load the bases again.

Out from the dugout came Steve Harrick, West Virginia's 68-year-old coach who bore a striking resemblance to long-time Yankees and Mets manager Casey Stengel. In fact, some took to calling Harrick "Casey."

The coach slowly made his way to the pitching mound and offered his star pitcher a few words of encouragement.

"John, you walk the next batter and you're out of the game!" he said.

Harrick turned around and walked back in the dugout. His brand of psychology worked. About two hours later, the coach finished witnessing one of the most dominant pitching performances in college baseball history.

Radosevich proceeded to strike out the side and the next 19 Waynesburg batters. West Virginia managed to score four runs and pull out a 10-inning, 4-3 victory over the Yellow Jackets.

Radosevich's 22-strikeout performance that day is one WVU record that will probably never be broken. Only eight putouts were recorded by someone other than WVU's catcher, Ron Renner.

Miami, Ohio pitcher Buddy Schultz owns the NCAA record for strikeouts in a game with 26. He accomplished that feat against Wright State on April 30, 1973. Just four other pitchers have fanned more than 23 batters in NCAA history. Radosevich's 22 strikeouts rank sixth on that list.

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John Radosevich is easily one of the finest West Virginia University athletes you've never heard of. He was somewhat overshadowed by All-America teammate and childhood friend Bill Marovic, who grew up just eight miles away in Leckrone, Pa.

The two became good friends playing Little League baseball and wound up signing scholarships to continue their careers at West Virginia University.

"West Virginia was the only school that offered me money to play baseball," Radosevich admitted. "It was close to home, so I probably would have gone there anyway."

As sophomores in 1963, both played prominent roles on West Virginia's finest-ever baseball team. The Mountaineers won 14 straight games to start the season and finished the year with a 29-1 record. WVU was the No. 4-ranked team in the country entering NCAA tournament play before being eliminated by Wake Forest.

Radosevich worked his way into the pitching rotation and wound up with a perfect 8-0 record. The lefthander possessed a 1.73 ERA and led the nation with 95 strikeouts in just 57 innings. That averages out to 15 strikeouts per nine innings, which 38 years later is still the fifth-best performance in NCAA history.

In 1964, Radosevich and Marovic again led West Virginia to the Southern Conference championship. Marovic batted .404 with 10 doubles, four triples and a conference-best 27 stolen bases to earn All-America honors. Years later, Marovic would be inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

Radosevich, meanwhile, posted a 9-2 record with a 1.00 ERA and 123 strikeouts in 81 innings in '64. The lefthander once again ranked among the nation's top strikeout artists.

The Mountaineers managed a 24-5 record after being knocked out of the NCAA tournament following successive losses to Mississippi and East Carolina. The star of that '64 Mississippi team was shortstop Don Kessinger.

Radosevich owned an 8-2 record as a senior in 1965 to finish with a 25-4 career mark. The pitcher can easily recite each of his four losses.

"Penn State, Pitt, Ohio University and Mississippi in the NCAA tournament," he said.

The two-time all-Southern Conference pitcher struck out 120 in 77 innings to rank fourth in the nation. His three-year total of 338 strikeouts in 215 innings will probably never be matched at WVU.

That's an average of 14.1 strikeouts per every nine innings pitched.

By comparison, lefthander Shane Rhodes finished this season with 284 strikeouts in 304.2 innings to rank second on the school's all-time list behind Radosevich. Rhodes averaged 8.4 strikeouts per every nine innings pitched.

Though not big by major league standards, standing six feet and weighing just 180 pounds, Radosevich was offered $40,000 by Baltimore scout Walter Youse to sign a professional contract as a junior during the 1964 Southern Conference tournament.

The major league draft was still a year away, and the bidding for amateur players was becoming reckless.

It all came to a head when the Los Angeles Angels out-bid Kansas City Athletics owner Charley Finley for the services of Wisconsin outfielder Rick Reichardt in June of 1964. The Angels paid the astonishing sum of $205,000 to land the two-sport star.

In 1964, teams spent $7 million on unproven amateur talent, more than they spent on salaries for major league players. In the meantime, Radosevich, after conferring with his father and coach Harrick, turned down Youse's offer and finished college in 1965.

"If the money was there in 1964, it would be there after my senior season, too," Radosevich reasoned.

The decision ultimately cost him about $28,000, but he became the first West Virginia University player taken in the baseball draft in 1965.

"The draft certainly cut down on the bonuses they were paying players," noted Radosevich, who signed for $12,000. "Had I know that professional baseball was going to have a draft back when I was offered all that money in 1964, I would have probably signed."

Radosevich went in the fifth round to the Los Angles Dodgers, five rounds ahead of a high school pitcher from southern California named Tom Seaver. A skinny high school pitcher from Alvin, Texas named Nolan Ryan was taken in the 12^th round by the New York Mets. Ryan was the 295^th player picked.

Radosevich saw an opportunity with the Dodgers.

He was immediately shipped to Santa Barbara of the California League, where he posted an 8-3 record as a rookie. A year later he went 12-2 with Jamestown of the New York-Penn League and was offered a Triple-A contract in 1967.

Things were looking bright for Radosevich.

Koufax was gone and flame-thrower Don Drysdale was near the end of his career. The Dodgers needed pitching and Radosevich was making a name for himself in the minor league ranks.

Then came an unfortunate accident, which ultimately cost Radosevich his professional baseball career.

In the off-season while student teaching in 1967, he injured his shoulder demonstrating a weight lifting exercise. His shoulder was never the same and year later he was out of baseball.

"From what I know now, it was a torn rotator cuff injury," Radosevich guessed. "Back then the only treatments you had were cortisone shots and ultra-sound treatments, which I had plenty of. It eventually got to the point where I couldn't pitch anymore."

Though there were no radar guns in the 1960s, those who saw him pitch claim he probably threw in the low 90s. Back then, baseball people said Radosevich had a "radio pitch." Those are the kind you hear but don't see.

"Actually I think my strongest point was my control," he admitted.

Radosevich became a school teacher and wrestling coach at Broadway High School in Harrisonburg, Va., where he still lives today. Now 58, he plans on working a few more years before retiring.

Radosevich is among the countless number of baseball players harboring the thoughts of what if. What if he didn't hurt his shoulder? What if athletic training were more advanced in the late 1960s?

He was able to get out players like Bobby Bonds and Mike Epstein in the minors. Baseball was getting ready to expand in 1970, giving more minor league players an opportunity to play

Maybe he could have made it.

"I can't really say in my mind if I was good enough to make it to the big leagues," Radosevich admitted, "but because of the injury the doubt is still there. I was doing well and moving up the ladder before the injury happened. I often wonder."

A few years ago I happened to run into former Maryland coach Tom Bradley, who pitched seven major league seasons with the Angels, White Sox and Giants and is now the manager of the Medicine Hat Blue Jays of the Pioneer League.

The Terrapins were in town to play West Virginia and through a mutual friend, we were sitting at a local bar sipping beers and talking baseball.

Our conversation covered Bradley's career in the majors, including the time he gave up an upper deck home run to Reggie Jackson at Comiskey Park. A couple of teammates discreetly sneaked into the stadium that night, removed the seat, and the next day presented Bradley with it to commemorate Jackson's mammoth blast.

The coach also recalled playing against West Virginia while in college. His memory working overtime, he remembered one particular lefthanded pitcher he faced.

"The guy's name started with an R and he could just throw the hell out of it," the coach said.

"Radosevich," I replied. "His name was John Radosevich."

"That's the guy!" Bradley answered. "He was a helluva college pitcher."

Indeed he was.

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