'This is historical.' Sierra baseball coach nears 600 wins and district record.
Sierra High baseball coach Jack Thomson is on the cusp of another milestone.
Good luck getting him to talk about it, though. In true baseball fashion, Thomson is locked into the process.
As the Timberwolves chase a Valley Oak League crown and a Sac-Joaquin Section postseason berth, Thomson, the only coach in school's 23-year history, has moved to within one win of 600 career victories.
"It's a testament to his longevity, which is really important to us," said first-year athletic director Andrew Lee, a Sierra alumnus who played for Thomson. "When we hire any kind of employee, longevity is valued. To have that kind of stability at a really high level is incredibly rare.
"As a first-year athletic director, I'm honored to have been coached by Jack and to work with Jack. We could not have asked for a better coach to start our program."
The pursuit of 600 has coincided with the Timberwolves' climb up the Valley Oak League standings. Sierra (10-7, 5-2) has won three straight and swept crosstown rival Manteca (11-7-1, 4-4) last week to move within a half-game of the co-leaders, Oakdale (11-9) and Kimball (12-8), both of whom are 6-2.
The Timberwolves open a pivotal home-and-home series Tuesday at Oakdale. First pitch is 4 p.m.
Sierra is led by senior Jacob Peterson, a versatile talent who tops the club in hitting (.375, 18 hits), doubles (five), RBIs (11), innings pitched (36), wins (four) and strikeouts (30).
"He has hardly talked about it all," Lee said of Thomson, whose career began at Manteca High. He has won 364 games in Sierra blue and another 235 in rival green. "There are more important things to Jack. Winning the VOL would be awesome. The playoffs would be awesome."
While Thomson and his team chase the program's sixth VOL title and first since 2015, Lee quietly orchestrates a watch party. The athletic director has been in contact with many of Thomson's former players and coaches, and he circulates a regular email to administrators and teachers apprising them of Thomson's progress.
"We have done our best to respect his wishes, to try and keep things under wrap," Lee said. "At the same time, it's hard because you think about the former coaches and players who want to be in the loop and want to be there to celebrate him. You want to honor their wishes, too.
"It's hard treating this as just another win, as Jack likes to put it."
Thomson is a five-time VOL coach of the year and received the American Baseball Coaches Association's top award in 2001.
Along the way he's coached six league MVPs and had another six players drafted by a major league team: Robert Perkins, eighth round, Atlanta Braves; Matt Miller, 39th round, Florida Marlins; Jordan Durrance, 42nd round, Baltimore Orioles; and Matt Berezay, who was selected three times.
Berezay was picked by the San Francisco Giants in back-to-back years in the 45th and 42nd rounds, respectively, and then once again by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 20th round after his senior year at the University of the Pacific.
Thomson has also moved within striking distance of the Stanislaus District's all-time wins leader, Bob Loureiro of Escalon, who retired in 2004 with 604 career victories.
Sierra has seven games left in the regular season.
The Timberwolves have a makeup game at Central Catholic on Saturday and series with East Union and Weston Ranch to close.
The Sac-Joaquin Section's wins leader is Guy Anderson, who won 927 games during a storied 45-year career at Cordova High, second-most in state history.
"This is historical and it's major," Lee said. "With that kind of commitment, not only to being an outstanding coach but to the community, he's reached so many families."
This story was originally published April 21, 2018 at 6:56 PM with the headline "'This is historical.' Sierra baseball coach nears 600 wins and district record.."