JUCO title in '87 a milestone in Losa's life By JOE SPENCER Pitchers certainly got their fill of that I came up in a lot of situations Bill Losa put some perspective on the importance of leading San Jacinto (Texas) College-North to the Junior College World Series title in 1987. "It's right up there with my marriage, my four kids and my family. That's a pretty proud moment," the former Gators designated hitter said. "I have four rings I got as a professional in the minors and I don't wear any of those anymore. I still wear that (JUCO) ring over any of those. I broke my (JUCO) ring twice and got that fixed right away. I have broken some of the others and they still aren't fixed." Losa admits he doesn't remember much from his playing days at the school in metro Houston, which owns a record five JUCO national titles and has produced memorable alumni such as Cy •Young winner Roger Clemens and World Series champion Andy Pettitte. Now an outside salesman for Cameron International dealing in off-shore oil rigs, Losa prefers following his 14-year-old daughter Ali's exploits as a starting shortstop on her high school team over watching Major League Baseball. "I just kind of got my fill of baseball from my playing days, but I still like looking at pictures of the park," Losa, said. "That's a pretty sharp The Daily Sentinel the slick-talking, hard hitting Texan 20 years ago. Losa's hitting binge included 10 hits in his first 10 official at-bats on the way to tying former Minnesota Twins Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett for the highest batting average in JUCO World Series history at .688. Puckett established the mark in 1982 as a member of Triton (Ill.) College. Bryant Beaver of Seminole (Okla.) State joined Losa and Puckett in 2004 at the .688 mark. "I thought for sure somebody would break it," Losa said. "I could remember the first batting practice we had (at Grand Junction), we saw how much more the ball carried there than the soup bowl we were in at Houston. I hit one off the handle and it kept going and going past the guy shagging balls in left field." One of the moments Losa does remember from that season involves another pitch he got hold of in the national championship game. He unloaded a towering shot over the left-center field lights for the game-winning home run in a 2-1 victory over Seminole State. Four of Losa's 11 hits in the tournament went out of the park. He also had 13 RBI and scored nine runs. "I remember the game I hit three home runs and hitting the won that beat Seminole," he said. "We had such a tradition at San Jac. We had one of those teams you had no choice who to pitch to. I was fortunate where they had to pitch to me." Losa didn't return for his sophomore season at San Jacinto after getting drafted by the Texas Rangers. He had stops in Butte, Mont., Florida and North Carolina in the Rangers and Cleveland Indians organizations before retiring in 1994. "It was easy to walk away from it. I put a timeline on it," Losa said. "I put in seven years and it was time for other things. I blew out my knee in 1989 and I never recovered fully from that.' Losa didn't stay down long, working as a golf club pro for awhile before meeting his wife, Ruth, through a mutual friend in 1998. Now he has his hands full with his children, Ali, 12-year-old Kara, 5-year-old Hagan and 3-year-old Riley. "Our community is a big softball community, so Ali is really doing well, starting as a freshman," Losa said. "Hagan's about ready to start baseball and we will have to see how he does with that." Maybe he will learn a little when his father comes back to Grand Junction for the first time since his glory days. "There's nothing negative to take away about that year at San Jac," Losa said. "This (anniversary) has rekindled some of my friendships with guys on that team. I was just hoping we would get an anniversary ring out of this deal.' Losa will have to settle for a watch to accompany that JUCO championship ring he still wears with pride.
