Randy Kindred is a Pantagraph columnist. To leave him a voice mail, call 820-3402. By e-mail: rkindred@pantagraph.com. The Randy Kindred Blog is at www.pantagraph.com/blogs

Dennis Martel sounds more like a Fenway Park vendor than a baseball coach in the farm belt. His accent is as New England as clam chowder, more Kennedy than crop duster.
He says “Sarer” and “Jenner” and “Anner,” and your mind races.
“What is he talking about?”Turns out they are his daughters: Sara, Jenna and Anna.

Yet, while Martel’s South Berwick, Maine, upbringing is as close as his next word, he has found a home in the land of soybeans and tractor pulls.
Twenty-two years after arriving in Central Illinois — in search of a master’s degree at Illinois State — Martel is two wins from 500 as head baseball coach at Illinois Wesleyan.

“I thought I’d be here a year or two, get my master’s and go back and teach and coach in Maine at the high school level,” Martel said.
He got his master’s in athletic administration. But he also got introduced to IWU athletic director Dennie Bridges, the Titans’ basketball and baseball coach at the time.

Martel had coached both sports as an undergrad at the University of Maine, serving as head basketball coach at nearby Bangor Community College and helping with baseball at Maine.

Bridges offered him $500 to run baseball practice, with Bridges coaching the games. That led to a year as a full-time assistant in basketball and baseball, and in 1988, Bridges entrusted him with the head baseball position.

“He took a chance on a guy who was wet behind the ears,” Martel said. “I hope I’ve warranted that trust.”

Forget “hope.”
Martel has rewarded Bridges many times over in 20 years as coach, building a 498-325-3 record and 238-105 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin mark. The Titans are 23-8 and 15-0 in the CCIW this year, one win from clinching their fifth conference title under Martel.
It could come Friday in a 7 p.m. home game against Augustana. No. 500 could come Saturday in a doubleheader with the Vikings at Rock Island.

The 48-year-old Martel has fielded consistent winners in the face of ever-rising academic standards and tuition costs. He calls them “hurdles,” yet clears them year after year with recruits and their parents.

“I talk about things they don’t look at … job placement rate, graduation rate, retention rate,” Martel said. “Those are all great things that make Wesleyan what it is.”
He also can show off the Titans’ home field, a luxury he did not have his first 11 seasons.
IWU used to convert the southwest corner of the football stadium into a baseball field in the spring. It didn’t exactly wow recruits.

In April 1999, the Titans played their first game at newly constructed Jack Horenberger Field, and the impact on recruiting was immediate. A CCIW title this season would be IWU’s third in the past four years and fifth in the past eight. Included was a trip to the NCAA Division III World Series in 2001.
“I became a better recruiter because we have a facility people love and is as good as any in the state,” Martel said. “Our talent level has increased. It made that next jump up. I don’t have one win as a pitcher or one hit as a hitter. I’ve just had a lot of good players and good men play for me.”

As alluring as Horenberger Field is, recruits do not show up on their own. Martel has developed a statewide network of scouts and high school coaches who constantly refer players to him.
Their mutual trust/respect has reaped recruits from every corner of the state, many of whom Martel first saw in summer tournaments or showcase events. He is in his car frequently in June, July and August, logging the miles it takes to reach a milestone.

He’s listened to a lot of CDs and sports talk radio en route to games played in 95-degree temperature and scorching sunshine.
“That’s part of the job,” Martel said. “Actually, that’s the easy part.
“The big thing is, are you looking for a trout in a catfish pond? You have to know what type of kid you’re trying to recruit.”

Martel has identified the ideal Titan well enough to also be closing in on Horenberger’s school-record 509 baseball victories. Horenberger, who died in 2000, had a 509-401-5 record from 1942-81, winning 16 CCIW titles.
Martel is not eager to pass him, saying, “I feel bad that I will break his record, because I’ve always felt he is Mr. Wesleyan.”
“I still regard him as the baseball coach at Illinois Wesleyan,” Martel added. “He was a great mentor to me when I started out. I will never reach the status he has, and I shouldn’t.”

Still, the Red Sox fan in the IWU dugout can hold his head high. The record speaks for itself, in words we all can understand.