Right-handed baseball relief pitcher Patrick J. Murphy was a two-time all-region selection and three-time Pitcher-of-the-Year who earned regional tournament MVP honors during the 1990 national championship season.
The 5-foot-10 inch, 175-pounder from Wolcott led or shared the staff lead in appearances and saves every season and performed a rare feat as a junior by leading the staff in both wins (7) and saves (5). He shared or won outright the team’s Pitcher-of-the-Year Award from 1990 through 1992 – one of only two relievers to earn that distinction as many as three times in the 42-year history of the award. His career records for saves (19), appearances (80) and relief appearances (76) remain today.
In his career, Murphy helped the Warriors to an overall record of 119-50 (70.4 winning percentage), including a record 40 wins (later broken) against just six losses during the 1990 national championship season. Eastern advanced to the championship round of the NCAA regional tournaments in each of Murphy’s first three seasons.
As a sophomore, Murphy contributed to all three wins in the NCAA Division III Northeast Regional tournament by winning one and saving two en route to tournament MVP honors, spring-boarding the Warriors to their second NCAA national championship a week later. After winning three and saving two in eight weeks of the regular season as a sophomore on a senior-laden pitching staff, Murphy took center stage in helping the Warriors sweep through the 1990 regional tournament. He did not allow a run over 5 1/3 innings, walking only one and giving up only two (infield) singles while fanning two.
In the regionals that year, Murphy struck out the only batter he faced – the potential tying run -- to save the opening 5-3 win over 1988 national champion Ithaca College in the opener; the next day, he preserved a two-run lead in a 7-4 victory over defending regional champion and host University of Southern Maine with a two-inning save. He got an inning-ending double play to leave the bases loaded in the eighth and got All-America Bob Prince on a game-ending fly ball to center, stranding two runners. In the clinching 4-3,
11-inning rematch with Ithaca, Murphy entered a tie game in the ninth with the potential game-winning run at first and pitched the final three innings – his longest stint in exactly two months. After catcher Lou Lanni threw out a potential base-stealer for the first out of the ninth, Murphy retired all eight batters he faced, earning his fourth victory of the season without a loss on Ken Valliere’s 11th-inning sacrifice fly.
Murphy came out of the bullpen in one game in the 1990 nationals at Battle Creek, MI to pitch two scoreless innings in a 7-4 second-round win over UW-Oshkosh. In four post-season games that year, Murphy allowed only four hits (only one of which left the infield) and no runs, fanning three and walking one in 7 1/3 innings. Teams batted .160 against him.
During the 1990 title season, Murphy was 4-0 with four saves and only eight walks in 32 2/3 innings and posted a career-best 0.83 ERA.
Praised his head coach, Bill Holowaty, prior to Murphy’s junior season: “Pat is a bulldog, a competitor who wants the ball. He comes at you, he comes hard, and he’s always throwing strikes.”
As a junior on a team which again reached the regional championship round despite losing its regional opener, Murphy topped the staff in wins, saves and innings (a career-high 76.0). After coming out of the bullpen in the first 36 games of his career, Murphy pitched a compete game in his first start – an eight-hit, 3-2 victory over Division I Northeastern University at Delray Beach. That year, he broke the program record for saves, demolishing the old mark of nine before graduating.
As a senior tri-captain on the 1992 team, Murphy broke three-time All-America righty Steve Thomas’ program record of 72 appearances, also winning Holowaty’s 700th game in relief in the home-opener against Framingham State University.
Returning fulltime to the bullpen in 1992, Murphy split six decisions and recorded a personal season-best seven saves, fanning 38 batters in 38 innings, compiling a 1.89 ERA and gaining all-region honors for the second straight season. His final win came against Brown University – another Division I opponent. In his final career home appearance on May 6 of that season, Murphy recorded his 18th and 19th career saves in a doubleheader sweep of Plymouth State University, striking out four of the five batters he faced.
In the NCAA Division III statistics at the time of graduation, Murphy was ranked second in career appearances and relief appearances and third in saves and through 2015, was still rated in the Top 30 all-time in each of those departments. His 23 appearances and seven saves stood as season records at the time of his graduation.
In 1994, Murphy was named to Holowaty’s Silver Anniversary Team, which featured the best 26 players through the coach’s first 25 seasons. The Hall of Fame induction is the third for Murphy, who was inducted into the Wolcott Circle of Sports in 2005 and into the Tri-State Baseball League Hall of Fame in 2013.
Murphy holds a B.S. Degree in Business Administration and is employed by TD Bank as a Vice President-Relationship Manager in the Government Banking Division. Patrick and Jennifer Murphy reside in his hometown of Wolcott with sons Connor and Nathan, the latter an incoming freshman at Eastern.
