APPLETON, Wis. — We’ve all heard the lecture about the value of hard work. We nod our heads in agreement at our parents or teachers or coaches, but that doesn’t mean we immediately put the nose to the grindstone.
Consider Lawrence University baseball star Jake Gordon a convert to the church of sweat, exhaustion and perseverance. With his work ethic pointing the way, Gordon has mixed in natural ability to put together stellar junior and senior seasons.
“Jake won every single award last year because of his work ethic,” Lawrence coach Jason Anderson said. “You have a lot of talent and add the work ethic, you break the school record for hits in a season and possibly the career hits record, that’s the example.”
Gordon hit .400 last season and broke Lawrence’s season hits record with 54 in just 33 games. He is hitting .392 this season with six doubles, four triples, two homers, 22 runs scored and 16 runs batted in.
Gordon now has 140 hits for his career, just 15 shy of breaking Andrew Wong’s school record of 154.
“The No. 1 goal (for this season), obviously, was to win,” Gordon said. “All the individual accolades were nice last year, but I came into this year wanting to win and make the conference tournament.”
The Vikings have struggled out of the gate in Midwest Conference play, but that hasn’t slowed Gordon’s assault on the Lawrence record book. Gordon is likely to be in Lawrence’s top five in career hits, runs scored, doubles and triples.
“The No. 2 goal was to improve any way I could,” Gordon said. “I thought last year was special, but I didn’t expect to come into this year and duplicate that.”
In addition to being an All-Midwest Conference selection last season, Gordon was chosen for the D3baseball.com All-Central Region team and the Jewish Sports Review All-America squad.
While Gordon is now an elite player in NCAA Division III, he was at a crossroads after his sophomore season. After hitting .337 as a freshman in 2012, Gordon slumped to .222 in 2013, and he knew why.
“That’s one of the things about my sophomore year, it kind of motivated me,” Gordon said. “I came in and played pretty well my freshman year but didn’t put in that kind of work I needed to.”
Gordon said he and Anderson had a long talk after that season.
“He said, ‘Don’t ever regret your baseball career,’ and I regretted my sophomore year and not putting in enough work,” Gordon said. “That motivated me, and it continues to motivate me every day.”
With the hard work paying off for Gordon, it is evident that other members of the Vikings have taken notice. With nine freshmen on the team, including starters Matthew Holliday, Jake Mills, Anthony Ortiz and Travis Weber, Gordon hopes to have an impact on Lawrence’s stars of the future.
“A lot of the freshmen have taken my example and run with it,” Gordon said. “They are in the weight room and working hard to get better. This is one of the best group of guys we’ve had in terms of work ethic. I hope it’s because of my example, but it’s a good group of guys.”
Anderson said he knew Gordon had ability, but it has been his workmanlike attitude that has made the difference between good and great.
“I knew he could be this good. What I didn’t know was just how hard he was going to work at it,” Anderson said.
“If you want to be successful, you have to do the work consistently. To have Jake on the team who is doing it consistently is a big help. The freshmen have to either follow along or get left behind.”