In just two years at the helm, Coach Pete Paciorek has rejuvenated the Panther Baseball Program and has begun to attract some top-notch recruits from across the country. Paciorek realizes the importance of hitting the recruiting trail hard and, in the last two years, he has grown the roster from 16 to 24 players. There is consideration for building a Junior Varsity Program in the near future.

In his first season coaching at Principia College in 2007, Coach Paciorek led the Panther baseball team to one of its finest seasons in quite some time. The team won 14 games (the second most in school history since joining the SLIAC in 1991) and doubled the win total of each of the previous 3 seasons. Though the 2007 squad fell short of the conference playoffs, they got a taste of the excitement of playing for a post-season berth. The baseball program was now headed in the right direction under Coach Paciorek, but it was also losing seven valuable graduating seniors.

The 2008 season was the beginning of Paciorek’s building process, as six starting players were either freshmen or newcomers to the Principia College Baseball Program. The 2008 recruiting class was loaded with talent, but due to the inconsistencies in play that oftentimes plague a young team, they did not accomplish the goal of surpassing the school record for wins in a season. “With a year of maturity and experience under their belts, and another stacked recruiting class for 2009, I am hopeful that the team will make a playoff run this year,” states Coach Paciorek.

Coach Paciorek brings to Principia College a great deal of passion for and knowledge of the game of baseball and the significance of intercollegiate athletics in the lives of young student-athletes. He instills a strong work ethic and high moral fiber into the baseball program at Principia College. Coach Paciorek is a teacher of the fundamentals of the game in the development of all of his players, and he is passionate about sharing his knowledge and love for the game of baseball with his players. More than all else, Coach Paciorek stresses the need to be consistent in all aspects of life.

Coach Paciorek played professional baseball in the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers’ organizations for nine years before moving on to coaching. For the past seven years, Paciorek has been involved in coaching at both the professional and the college levels. Prior to coming to Principia College, he coached at California State University (Los Angeles), where he helped lead the team to the best overall record in school history. Cal State L.A. was ranked as high as 6th in the country for NCAA Division II, and finished the season one game away from advancing to the College World Series. In 2007, Cal State L.A. advanced a game further making it to the College World Series in Montgomery, Ala.

In the last six years as a college baseball coach, Coach Paciorek has played a part in the following players furthering their baseball careers to the professional ranks: Jeff Carroll (Tampa Bay Rays), Adam Klein (Oakland A’s), Tom Vessella (Houston Astros), Derrick Loop (Cleveland Indians), Brandon Higelin (San Diego Padres), Ryan Brown (Cincinnati Reds), Jacob Ferris (Chico Outlaws), Phillip Springman (Chico Outlaws), and Henry Contreras (Seattle Mariners).

Coach Paciorek’s playing career began at San Marino High School (CA) where he was “State Player of the Year” in baseball his senior year. He moved on to Glendale Community College (CA), where he was an “All Conference” selection. After one season at GCC, Paciorek signed a professional contract with the San Diego Padres. He played for the Padres from 1995-1999 before moving on to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ organization. With the Dodgers, Paciorek helped lead his teams to two Minor League Championships (California League 2000 & Southern League 2001). During his professional playing career, Paciorek was a two-time All-Star and named “Best Defensive First Baseman” by Baseball America.

Paciorek comes from a long line of baseball players. His dad, John, holds the Major League Baseball career batting average record of 1.000 (3 for 3). He has two uncles who played in the Major Leagues, Tom (17 years) and Jim (3 years). His brother Mack also played professional baseball, as well as his cousin Tommy. In the 2007 Major League Amateur Draft, cousin Joey Paciorek was selected and is currently playing in the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization.

During the summer, Paciorek is the head coach of the Danville Dans of the Central Illinois Collegiate League (CICL), a wood bat league supported by Major League Baseball showcasing the best college baseball players in the country. This past summer, in his second year coaching in the CICL, Coach Paciorek was named the league “Manager of the Year”. Along with the accomplishment, many of Paciorek’s Danville players over the past two summers have received national accolades by Baseball America magazine for their outstanding performances: four Division I All-Americans, one Team USA player, eight league top professional prospects, and one Player of the Year. The San Gabriel, California native earned his B.A. in Communications from Cal State L.A. in 2004, graduating Magna Cum Laude, and his Master's Degree in Communications with an emphasis in Organizational Communication and Leadership at Cal State L.A. in 2006.

Pete is a lifelong Christian Scientist and is happily married to his high school sweetheart Sara (Snyders) Paciorek, who is also works for Principia College as the Abroad Program Manager.