56 and Counting

FIU’s Garrett Wittels is just two games shy of tying the Division I all-time hit streak record

By Sissi Aguila ’99, MA ’08

It was his first homerun of the season. Teammates had been teasing Garrett Wittels for weeks. He’d had a hit in 36 straight games. Amazing. But, he hadn’t been able to hit one out of the ballpark. Then came a 2-1 breaking ball and off it went deep over the left field wall. On April 30, 2010, infielder Wittels broke FIU’s record for consecutive hits and folks started thinking he might just break some NCAA records.

After hit number 42, there was a press conference. Fans wanted to meet the kid from Bay Harbor who was now tied in the fourth longest hitting streak in NCAA Division I history. Interviews on ESPN followed. No sports section was complete without at least a blurb on the new college baseball star.

As the shortstop kept hitting, the team stepped up to the plate, claiming its first Sun Belt Conference Tournament crown since 1999. The boys set SBC Tournament records in hits, runs scored and batting average and gave Wittels the opportunity to inch closer to the record of one of the best college hitters of all time, Robin Ventura. His 1987 record stands at 58 games.

FIU was eliminated at the Coral Gables Regional, but Wittels hit number 56, two shy of Ventura. The longest hitting streak in the Major Leagues is Joe DiMaggio’s 56, set in 1941. Wittels’ streak is ongoing until the start of the 2011 season
in February.

“I try not to think about it,” said Wittels of the streak. “But it’s in the back of my mind.”

The All-American infielder says he’s stayed focused with the advice of his teammates. “They’ve taught me that you can’t let your successes get you too high and your failures too low. You have to stay even keel the whole time.”

He’s worked with the coaches on technique and at swinging at the right pitches.

“Garrett has a competitive spirit. He’s tough. He doesn’t let pressure effect him,” said Head Baseball Coach Henry “Turtle” Thomas, of the 20-year-old junior. “He’s shown maturity beyond his years. It goes back to how he was raised by his family. He’s got a great work ethic.”

Wittels’ parents Michael and Lishka, his grandfather Bernardo Bennett, and his little brother and sister often came out to watch him play during the season. “We’re a tight family,” said Wittels. “I like to look up at the stands and know that they’re there rooting for me.”

Wittels’ family played a big part in continuing the hitter’s streak. Baseball is a game of superstitions and Wittels has “a ton.” During the season, his sister, Nataly, 12, or brother, Stephen, 15, would throw a pack of Watermelon Bubblicious gum into the dugout before each game. His uncle, Edgar Bennett, would bring a Jobu doll, the voodoo creation from the movie Major League. Wittels would wear the same shorts, sliding pants and socks (washed, he insists).

And Wittels has not cut his hair since the beginning of the 2010 season. For now, the high-energy jokester says there are no plans to get rid of the “bird nest,” as his teammates call his locks, until next season.

Superstitions aside, baseball is a game of numbers. Statistics remain more important at the ballpark than in any other major sport. And Wittels’ numbers in 2010 were impressive all around. He had a hit in every game he played last season; a team-high batting average of .413 with 100 hits; and 60 RBI.

A utility player hitting .246 last season, Wittels became “arguably the most famous player in Div. I baseball, with updates of his streak regularly rolling along the ticker of national sports television stations and Web sites,” said Sports Illustrated writer Joe Lemire.

He was the 2010 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, named to the Ping! Baseball All-American First Team and the Louisville Slugger First-Team All-American.

ESPN took note and named Wittels one of five ESPY nominees for Best Male College Athlete. He flew out to Los Angeles and sat in the audience with some of the biggest names in sports.

“I was just so happy to be there,” said Wittels, who walked the red carpet with his sister Eliana, 21. “It’s one of the things I’ve been most excited about since the streak started.”

Wittels’ success has also given FIU some added swagger. There are more than 300 NCAA Division I teams in the country. Because of the streak, FIU dominated NCAA and college baseball headlines for months.

“We’re a young school,” said Thomas. “All our sports are on the rise – our rankings, our academic programs – are on the rise. This is good for FIU.”

Wittels, a sports management major on the 2010 Sun Belt Honor Roll, will be eligible for Major League drafts at the end of the 2011 season, but says he has not thought that far ahead yet. He spent June and July in Alaska playing with the Peninsula Oilers in a summer league.

During the off-season, Wittels says he’s trying to get faster and work on agility. Batters have less than a second to decide to hit the ball while at bat. The few who succeed do so on average three out of 10 times. They are considered the game’s greatest players.