From coaches to teammates to even the sports information director, Wayland Baptist University's baseball program had a major impact on Todd Jeffress' formative years. In fact, Jeffress himself says all of those people helped raise him.
WBU coaches Brad Bass and Tommy McMillan began recruiting and teaching Jeffress baseball when he was in junior high. Many of Jeffress' teammates, he said, were top-notch individuals who inspired him to stay at Wayland longer than the one year he planned. And as for the SID, well, that was his mom, Rhane Jeffress, Wayland's longtime stat-keeper who was inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor in 2016. Now, Todd – the most talented pitcher/position player combination in Pioneers history – joins her there as the fourth WBU baseball player to be inducted.
"It's an awesome honor. It's neat to have my name on the wall forever," Jeffress said. "I should be thanking my coaches and all my teammates for it. They're the ones who helped me along the way."
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(NOTE: Todd Jeffress will be inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor – along with Brad Bass, Kim Kayler Clemmons, Dr. Sylvia Nadler and Joe & Freda Provence – at 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 6 inside the Pete & Nelda Laney Center. Admission is free. Live streaming at www.wbuathletics.com/watch.)
Jeffress had no real desire to even attend Wayland after graduating from Plainview High School in 2004. Despite being an all-state pitcher and MVP of the district, the 6-foot-4 Jeffress wasn't highly recruited. There was Trinidad Junior College in Colorado, Seward County Community College in Kansas, and North Central Texas in Gainesville. That was about it. Oh, and Wayland.
But like many his age, Jeffress wanted to go away for college. "I wanted out of Plainview." But he changed his mind and decided to become a Pioneer while at a restaurant in Sherman where he and his mom were eating after a tryout with North Central Texas was rained out. "Coach Bass had recruited me since I was in eighth grade," said Jeffress, who is a couple of years older than Bass' oldest son, Calvin. "Any time I was in a slump in high school Coach Bass would help me out, and I already knew a bunch of the guys anyway and played with them in summer league. I also took lessons with some former (WBU) players, including Ryan McDaniel who was drafted by the Padres."
So Jeffress figured he would attend Wayland for free on a Plainview Education Partnership (PEP) tuition assistance scholarship for one year and then transfer. His plans, however, changed after Wayland quickly grew on him. "Mainly it was the group of guys I was around my sophomore year that made me want to stay longer. It was a really fun group of guys with a strong senior core. Guys like Chasen DeLeon, Joe Covarrubias, Sean Iverson, Izzy Castillo, and my roommate, Sam Hayden. Those guys dragged me to the gym to run bleachers…really kind of raised me."
Jeffress recalls lots of strong hitters on the 2006 squad. "We had several walk-off wins during the season. We led the NAIA in doubles and were second in slugging and in home runs. I remember we swept Oklahoma Baptist, which was ranked No. 2 at the time, in a three-game series at home. In the third game, we were down 7-1 in the sixth, and came back to win when Jonathan Reynoso and Chasen hit back-to-back homers in the bottom of the 10th against one of the best relievers in the SAC."Â
Besides the strong bonds he was creating with teammates, Jeffress said the success the baseball team was having influenced him to stay. "Every year we got better," he said. After posting a 29-33 record as a freshman (on the heels of a 40-win season and Sooner Athletic Conference runner-up finish just prior to his arrival), the Pioneers improved to 33-27 his sophomore year.
By then Jeffress was already well established as a pitcher, which is something he wasn't interested in doing at first. "I didn't want to pitch. I just wanted to hit," he said. "Coach Bass threw me on the mound as a reliever the first series of my freshman year against UTPB. I hated it."
Slowly, however, Jeffress began to enjoy being on the mound. "I watched Taylor Allen and learned some things from him, and I started to like it. It was fun having the ball in your hand." In 13 starts as a freshman, Jeffress went 5-5 and recorded 70 strikeouts. In his second season he posted a team-high eight wins, fanned 72 and earned another Coaches Award as well as the first of three All-SAC honors as the only sophomore to be recognized.
While Jeffress "was figuring out that pitching was my ticket," he said mainly he just wanted to be on the field. "Playing was fun, it didn't matter where. I played some first base in the fall, and my senior year I moved everywhere in the outfield." He said he sometimes, but not often, batted for himself while also pitching. "I liked doing that because it helped me pitch. It I did something stupid (at the plate) I could get in and throw harder."
Jeffress' best pitching performance came in the opening series of what was going to be his junior season in 2007 when he tossed a complete-game no-hitter (one of only six in the now 29-year history of the program) in a 10-0 win over Northwood University. "I struck out a career-high 10 batters and was an error away from a perfect game." Jeffress made only one more appearance that year before suffering a season-ending elbow injury. That was a bummer since "Coach told me I probably would have gotten drafted that year."
By one game Jeffress was able to redshirt and not a lose a season of eligibility. Then, after a year of rehab, he came back stronger than ever in 2008 with a year that still stands as one of the most decorated in program history. After logging an 11-5 record with 97 strikeouts and a 3.57 ERA plus finishing second on the team with a .374 batting average to go with 55 hits, 40 RBI and 10 homers, Jeffress was named all-conference and all-region first team pitcher. In a game against West Texas A&M, he broke the school record for most RBI in a game (9) and tied the record for most runs (5), hits (5) and home runs (3) in a game.
Jeffress was a huge part of the Pioneers opening the 2008 season with an impressive 21-1-1 record. They finished third in the Region VI Tourney and ended with a then-school record 43 victories and a No. 13 NAIA ranking after getting as high as ninth in the national polls. Also that season, Jeffress recalls ending top-ranked Lubbock Christian's 38-game winning streak in the last game of the regular season and also twice beating perennial power Oklahoma City University, the last time in the SAC Tourney with a two-run walk-off bomb by Brett Sheppard with two out in the bottom of the ninth. Â
Jeffress – a right-hander who threw in the low 90s but whose go-to pitch was a slider first taught to him by WBU pitching coach Brandon Henegar while in high school – said the most talented team he played on was the 2009 Pioneers. "We were one game away from going to Lewiston, Idaho, to play in the NAIA World Series and finished No. 18 with a 43-15 record." That team wound up third in the NAIA in homers (setting a school record with 119) and fourth in runs scored and RBI. Individually, Marcus Limon was second in the NAIA in strikeouts per nine innings,
Todd Weldon was second in total strikeouts,
Brett Cook was second in hits and runs scored, and Franky Busani was in the top 10 in RBI and homers.
Jeffress said the game he remembers most that season was the first championship game of the NAIA World Series Opening Round Tournament in Lubbock. "We were in the loser's bracket after losing to LCU in the second game, so we had to play the next afternoon against William Jewell out of Missouri. It was hot and windy, and we won 10-2. That set up the rematch against LCU in the championship game a couple of hours later. If they won, our season was over. If we won, we stayed alive. Marcus Limon was pitching with a sore elbow, but he came out and struck out 14 and threw a complete game in a 6-2 win. It was the gutsiest pitching performance I've ever witnessed."
Jeffress, who was voted Senior Class Favorite, still stands as the program leader in wins (30), starts (57), innings pitched (336.2) and shutouts (7). He ranks second in career strikeouts (322), tied for second in complete games (18) and tied for fifth in career home runs (28). A six-time Sooner Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week, he earned the Bill Hardage Champions of Character Award from Wayland as a junior and was co-recipient of the Roscoe Snyder Award as Wayland's most outstanding athlete as a senior.
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in physical education, Jeffress served as graduate assistant coach for one year then went to work as a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines in 2012. He currently lives in Federal Way, Wash., about a mile from the Sound. In addition to traveling and pursuing hobbies like snowboarding, paddleboarding and kayaking, he plays adult-league baseball and last fall helped Team Alaska capture the NABA World Series in Phoenix. Jeffress was named Defensive MVP after earning the save in the championship game.
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