When it comes to smashing home runs, Joey Grabanski has no equal in the history of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). With two powerful flicks of the bat on April 13, 2024, Grabanski made history while leaving the yard for the 77th and 78th times in his career. No. 78 made Grabanski the new NAIA record holder, surpassing the former standard of 77 by Azusa Pacific University’s Brice Cutspec (2007-10).
Said Grabanski afterwards, “It’s a great feat to accomplish. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates and coaches believing and pushing me to become better every day. Honestly, in the moment I wasn’t thinking about anything. I was just sticking to my approach and doing whatever I could to help the team in whatever way possible.”
Social media exploded with congratulatory messages as word spread of Grabanski’s crowning individual achievement. Said Head Coach Ryan Dupic, “The very best thing you can do when you step to the plate is hit a home run. Any record that anybody sets nationally is incredible. He didn’t set it in like sac bunts or singles, even though that would be really good too. He set it for hitting the ball out of the ballpark. That’s the best thing you can do when you come to the plate. There’s not a better record that you could have as an individual. He’s just been incredible. You can’t say much more. You run out of ways to describe it.”
Via Twitter/X, current hitting coach Ben Berg wrote, “What a remarkable accomplishment. The consistent excellence from week to week for four straight years is really incredible. Very grateful to have been able to witness it! Congrats to big dog @Jgrabanski6.” Former hitting coach Caleb Lang wrote, “@Jgrabanski6 proud of you man. From Nebraska to Michigan to NY, very grateful to have been a part of your baseball journey. Was blessed to enjoy about 300 games together and thankful for each one.”
A breakdown of Grabanski’s home runs from one through 79 can be found below. Career homer No. 1 came at College of the Ozarks on Feb. 27, 2021. As just a freshman, Grabanski broke the school single season record at the time with 17 big flies. He went on to homer 18 times as a sophomore, 27 times as a junior and has pulverized 17 blasts so far as a senior. By location, Grabanski has homered 27 times at Plum Creek Park, 33 times on the road and 19 times at neutral sites. The opponent he has victimized most is Northwestern with 10 homers versus Red Raider pitching. More of Grabanski’s homers have come in the third inning (15) rather than any other frame.
Grabanski joins company that includes Oklahoma State University’s Pete Incaviglia as all-time home run record holders in separate divisions (see list below). Grabanski’s 79 home runs are more than the standard bearers from either NCAA Division II or III. There are four NCAA Division I players in history with more homers than Grabanski: Incaviglia (100), Florida State’s Jeff Ledbetter (97), Georgia Southern’s Todd Greene (88) and LSU’s Eddy Furniss (80). Grabanski is tied with Florida State’s Frank Fazzini for the fifth most home runs in collegiate baseball history, regardless of division.
Home run record holders by Division (entering 2024 season):
NAIA: Joey Grabanski, Concordia – 79
NCAA Division I: Pete Incaviglia, Oklahoma State – 100
NCAA Division II: Stewart Lee, Jacksonville State – 71
NCAA Division III: Jose Cortez, Pomona Pitzer / Tim Jorgensen, Wisconsin-Oshkosh – 70
As of the beginning of this week, Grabanski still has eight regular season games left and then the postseason to pad his home run record. In 211 career collegiate games, the native of Grand Forks, N.D., has also tallied 207 runs, 281 hits, 48 doubles, 269 RBIs, 566 total bases and 123 walks while hitting .375 with a .755 slugging percentage.
The Grabanski home run ledger:
· Location:
o Home: 27 | Road: 33 | Neutral Site: 19
· Type:
o Solo: 33 | Two-run: 28 | Three-run: 13 | Grand Slams: 5
· By opponent:
o 10 – Northwestern
o 9 – Morningside
o 7 – Dordt
o 6 – Briar Cliff
o 5 – Doane
o 5 – Midland
o 4 – Culver-Stockton
o 4 – Oklahoma City
o 3 – Calumet
o 3 – Keiser
o 2 – Bellevue
o 2 – Concordia Ann Arbor
o 2 – Dickinson State
o 2 – Grand View
o 2 – Jamestown
o 2 – Judson
o 2 – Midway
o 1 – College of the Ozarks
o 1 – Cumberlands
o 1 – Dakota Wesleyan
o 1 – Freed-Hardeman
o 1 – Hastings
o 1 – IU South Bend
o 1 – Kansas Wesleyan
o 1 – Mount Marty
o 1 – William Woods
· By inning:
o 1st: 13 | 2nd: 8 | 3rd: 15 | 4th: 9 | 5th: 6 | 6th: 10 | 7th: 11 | 8th: 6 | 9th: 1
Freshman – 2021 (17)
1 – Solo HR at College of the Ozarks, 3rd inning (Feb. 27, 2021 – G2)
· The first home run of Grabanski’s collegiate career came in game No. 6 of the 2021 season as the rookie took College of the Ozark starting pitcher Ryan Daggs deep for a solo shot leading off the top of the third.
2 – Two-run HR vs. Grand View, 3rd inning (March 6, 2021 – G2); neutral site
3 – Two-run HR vs. Grand View, 1st inning (March 7, 2021 – G2); neutral site
4 – Solo HR at Dickinson State, 5th inning (March 12, 2021 – G1)
5 – Solo HR at Dickinson State, 8th inning (March 12, 2021 – G2)
6 – Solo HR at Midland, 7th inning (March 20, 2021 – G1)
7 – Solo HR at. Doane, 9th inning (April 2, 2021 – G2)
8 – Three-run HR vs. Briar Cliff, 1st inning (April 11, 2021 – G2)
9 – Solo HR at Northwestern, 6th inning (April 15, 2021 – G1)
10 – Solo HR at Northwestern, 3rd inning (April 16, 2021 – G1)
11 – Solo HR at Northwestern, 2nd inning (April 16, 2021 – G2)
12 – Two-run HR vs. Jamestown, 2nd inning (April 25, 2021 – G2)
13 – Solo HR vs. Morningside, 2nd inning (April 26, 2021 – G1)
14 – Two-run HR vs. Morningside, 7th inning (April 26, 2021 – G1); walk-off
· Grabanski virtually single-handedly led the Bulldogs to victory as he belted a solo homer in the second and then came through in the clutch with a two-out, walk-off two-run home run in the seventh to reverse what had been a 4-3 deficit versus Morningside. This remains Grabanski’s lone career walk-off blast.
15 – Solo HR vs. Morningside, 1st inning (April 26, 2021 – G2)
16 – Solo HR vs. Morningside, 6th inning (April 26, 2021 – G2)
17 – Two-run HR vs. Doane, 8th inning (May 11, 2021 – GPAC Championship Game)
Sophomore – 2022 (18)
18 – Two-run HR vs. William Woods, 3rd inning (Feb. 19, 2022); neutral site
19 – Solo HR vs. IU South Bend, 7th inning (March 6, 2022 – G1); neutral site
20 – Solo HR vs. Judson, 1st inning (March 8, 2022); neutral site
21 – Two-run HR vs. Judson, 8th inning (March 8, 2022); neutral site
22 – Two-run HR vs. Concordia Ann Arbor, 1st inning (March 12, 2022); neutral site
23 – Two-run HR vs. Concordia Ann Arbor, 3rd inning (March 12, 2022); neutral site
24 – Three-run HR vs. Dakota Wesleyan, 2nd inning (March 19, 2022 – G2)
25 – Solo HR vs. Hastings, 5th inning (March 20, 2022 – G2)
26 – Grand Slam at Morningside, 6th inning (April 8, 2022 – G1)
· First career grand slam.
27 – Solo HR at Dordt, 3rd inning (April 21, 2022 – G1)
28 – Solo HR at Dordt, 7th inning (April 23, 2022 – G1)
29 – Grand Slam at Dordt, 2nd inning (April 23, 2022 – G2)
30 – Two-run HR at Briar Cliff, 7th inning (April 28, 2022 – G1)
31 – Solo HR vs. Northwestern, 6th inning (May 7, 2022 – GPAC Tournament)
32 – Two-run HR vs. Briar Cliff, 6th inning (May 9, 2022 – GPAC Tournament)
33 – Three-run HR vs. Briar Cliff, 7th inning (May 9, 2022 – GPAC Tournament)
34 – Three-run HR vs. Northwestern, 5th inning (May 9, 2022 – GPAC Tournament)
35 – Solo HR at Bellevue, 4th inning (May 19, 2022 – NAIA OR)
Junior – 2023 (27)
36 – Two-run HR at Oklahoma City, 8th inning (Feb. 11, 2023)
37 – Solo HR vs. Bellevue, 5th inning (Feb. 11, 2023); neutral site
38 – Two-run HR at Oklahoma City, 2nd inning (Feb. 12, 2023)
39 – Two-run HR at Oklahoma City, 6th inning (Feb. 12, 2023)
40 – Grand Slam at Oklahoma City, 7th inning (Feb. 12, 2023)
· First career three-homer game.
41 – Solo HR vs. Culver-Stockton, 3rd inning (Feb. 25, 2023 – G2); neutral site
42 – Three-run HR vs. Culver-Stockton, 4th inning (Feb. 25, 2023 – G2); neutral site
43 – Two-run HR vs. Culver-Stockton, 7th inning (Feb. 25, 2023 – G2); neutral site
44 – Solo HR at Keiser, 8th inning (March 4, 2023 – G1)
45 – Two-run HR at Keiser, 6th inning (March 5, 2023)
46 – Three-run HR vs. Calumet College, 3rd inning (March 10, 2023); neutral site
47 – Solo HR vs. Calumet College, 4th inning (March 10, 2023); neutral site
48 – Three-run HR vs. Jamestown, 3rd inning (March 20, 2023 – G1)
· Career home run No. 48 for Grabanski made him the program’s all-time home run leader. On this date, Grabanski passed former teammate Keaton Candor (47) for that distinction.
49 – Solo HR vs. Mount Marty, 1st inning (March 25, 2023 – G2); neutral site
50 – Two-run HR at Northwestern, 3rd inning (March 30, 2023 – G1)
51 – Solo HR at Northwestern, 1st inning (March 30, 2023 – G2)
52 – Two-run HR at Northwestern, 5th inning (March 30, 2023 – G2)
53 – Two-run HR at Northwestern, 7th inning (March 30, 2023 – G2)
54 – Solo HR vs. Dordt, 1st inning (April 7, 2023 – G2)
55 – Grand Slam vs. Dordt, 2nd inning (April 7, 2023 – G2)
· At the time, Joey Grabanski’s 20 home runs for the 2023 season set a new program record for a single season.
56 – Two-run HR vs. Briar Cliff, 7th inning (April 16, 2023 – G2)
57 – Solo HR at Midland, 1st inning (April 22, 2023 – G1)
58 – Solo HR at Midland, 4th inning (April 22, 2023 – G2)
59 – Solo HR vs. Morningside, 3rd inning (April 28, 2023 – G1)
60 – Grand Slam vs. Midway, 6th inning (May 16, 2023 – NAIA OR)
61 – Three-run HR vs. Midway, 7th inning (May 16, 2023 – NAIA OR)
62 – Three-run HR vs. Freed-Hardeman, 8th inning (May 17, 2023 – NAIA OR)
· With three home runs over the final two days of the 2023 season, Grabanski pulled even with teammate Jaidan Quinn for 27 long balls on the year. That number broke the program record for a single season.
Senior – 2024 (16)
63 – Two-run HR at Kansas Wesleyan, 3rd inning (Feb. 20, 2024 – G2)
64 – Three-run HR vs. Culver-Stockton, 4th inning (Feb. 25, 2024 – G1); neutral site
65 – Two-run HR at Keiser, 1st inning (March 1, 2024)
66 – Solo HR vs. Calumet College, 4th inning (March 7, 2024); neutral site
67 – Two-run HR vs. Cumberlands, 3rd inning (March 9, 2024); neutral site
68 – Two-run HR at Briar Cliff, 1st inning (March 19, 2024 – G1)
69 – Three-run HR vs. Northwestern, 1st inning (March 22, 2024 – G1)
70 – Solo HR at Dordt, 3rd inning (March 29, 2024 – G2)
71 – Solo HR at Dordt, 4th inning (March 29, 2024 – G2)
72 – Two-run HR vs. Doane, 1st inning (April 2, 2024 – G1)
73 – Solo HR vs. Doane, 6th inning (April 2, 2024 – G1)
· On this date, Grabanski moved past Lindsey Wilson’s Steve Dover (72) for second on the NAIA’s all-time home run list.
74 – Two-run HR vs. Doane, 2nd inning (April 2, 2024 – G2)
75 – Two-run HR vs. Midland, 4th inning (April 7, 2024 – G1)
76 – Two-run HR vs. Midland, 6th inning (April 7, 2024 – G2)
77 – Solo HR at Morningside, 3rd inning (April 13, 2024 – G1)
78 – Three-run HR at Morningside, 4th inning (April 13, 2024 – G1)
· Broke the NAIA all-time home run record of 77 previously owned by Brice Cutspec of Azusa Pacific University. According to available information, Grabanski is one of four NAIA players to ever eclipse 70 career home runs.
79 – Three-run HR at Morningside, 5th inning (April 14, 2024 – G1)