Jack of Two Trades: Wallace Is Winning on the Diamond and on the Course

Winthrop’s Jack Wallace is traveling down a road in NCAA sports this spring that few have ever navigated with as much success.

Wallace is a pitcher for the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, the Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors, who are trying to get to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the Division 3 College World Series.

But here’s where Jack Wallace is in a class by himself: he is also an ace golfer for the Little East champion ECSU team. He’s competing in two sports simultaneously and making a big impact in both programs.

It’s going exactly how Wallace, 23, hoped it would go after committing to Eastern Connecticut as a graduate transfer following an excellent career at Franklin Pierce University where he received his degree in Sports Management.

“It’s crazy to actually think it’s going exactly what I thought,” said Wallace. “When I decided to go here to pursue my master’s degree [Organizational Management], I had the feeling in the back of my head that we could be one of the best teams in the country.”

Baseball, Golf are Familiar Territory

Jack Wallace was a big-time, baseball-golf standout at Winthrop High School. He led the Northeastern Conference in batting average with a .505 mark and was All-Conference. His pitching and hitting helped him earn a spot in the Division 2 power Franklin Pierce baseball program.

He was also the Northeastern Conference individual golf champion, the only Viking in history to accomplish that feat. In the fall of 2016, Wallace took his game to Gannon Golf Course in Lynn and beat the best golfers from Marblehead, Swampscott and Beverly and everywhere else with a winning score of 76.

“It was a freezing cold day at the end of October,” recalled Wallace.

Asked if he has ever recorded a hole-in-one, Wallace responded, “My dad has two of them, but I don’t. I’ve come very close.”

Jack is the son of Mark Wallace and Beth (Tallent) Wallace. The Tallent family is well known in Winthrop for his excellence in all sports.

“Those are all my uncles and cousins,” said Jack proudly. “[Winthrop’s All-Scholastic goaltender] Summer Tallent is my first cousin. The bloodline’s definitely there.”

Jack is not yet a member of the Winthrop Golf Club, but “it’s a goal in my life, definitely, to be the club champion there.”

Getting it Done for ECSU Sports

Wallace, a 5-foot-11-inch, 195-pound righthander, has been a dependable arm out of the bullpen this season. He has struck 22 batters in 19 innings of work and has a 2.50 earned run average.

“I just do whatever I can – long relief, short relief, gather some situations, whatever they need me to do,” said Wallace, whose Franklin Pierce teammate, Josh Tower, plays first base for the ECSU Warriors.

With 39 victories, Coach Brian Hamm’s Warriors are a confident group heading into the NCAA Tournament in search of a national championship.

“Even if we’re down a run, we always feel like we’re going to win the game,” related Wallace. “It feels great to be a part of it because you don’t go to the ballpark thinking you’re going to lose – ever. You feel like you can beat everybody, and everyone’s bought into that.”

In golf, he just finished his spring season last week, helping the team win the Thread City Invitational over 12 other teams. Last fall, Wallace and ECSU won the Little East Conference championship. He was named the Little East golfer and rookie of the week in October.

“My pitching coach [Chris Wojcik] is the head golf coach and he encouraged me to try it,” said Wallace. “I told him I played golf in high school, and he let me try out and I made the team.”

Life as a two-sport-in-one-season athlete is a busy one.

“I’ll play 9-18 holes in the morning,” said Wallace. “I’ll go to baseball practice, which is usually at 3 p.m. Fortunately, all my classes are at night.”

It appears that Jack Wallace picked the right school to continue his athletic career and pursue his master’s degree. And he might have a national championship ring if the Warriors can stay red hot over the next few weeks and beat college baseball’s best.