A Bark With Serious Bite
2/9/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 9, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C. — When Brian Bark finished his career at NC State in 1990, the Wolfpack baseball record book read like Bark’s personal autobiography.
The official count says Bark set 15 single-season or career records during his four years in Raleigh. While most of Bark’s records have been broken in the ensuing two decades, he still ranks in the all-time top 10 of almost every category. His impact on the program is unmistakable.
Bark, Turtle Zaun (1985-88) and Tom Sergio (1994-97) will be inducted into the NC State Baseball Hall of Fame at the baseball program’s annual Hall of Fame and First Pitch Banquet on Friday, Feb. 11 at the downtown Marriott.
“It hasn’t even begun to sink in yet what this means to me,” Bark says. “It’s just an incredible honor.”
Bark ended his days in Raleigh ranked as NC State’s career leader with 241 games played, 215 consecutive games played, 980 at-bats, 265 runs scored, 323 base hits, 70 doubles, 199 runs batted in, 127 walks and 538 total bases. He was fourth in home runs with 41.
He set single-season records as well. He set a freshman record when he bashed 11 home runs in 1987. A year later, he set records with 20 doubles, 83 runs scored and 100 base hits, six of which came in a single NCAA Regional game against sixth-ranked Florida to tie an NCAA Tournament record. He set a single-season record as a senior in 1990 with 272 at-bats.
And that’s just the offensive records.
A standout on the mound as well as at the plate and in the field, Bark appeared in 72 games as a pitcher and averaged more than 60 innings pitched per season during his career. He won 18 games and saved 20.
Bark finished his career as NC State’s career leader in appearances and saves. He set a school single-season record in 1989 with 11 saves, then nearly matched that with nine more a year later. His 27 appearances in 1990 was the second-most ever by a pitcher in NC State annals at that time. And even though he only started 26 games in his four years, Bark finished his career ranked fourth in school history in wins.
“There’s no question that Brian was a great player, and he was definitely the best two-way player I’ve ever coached,” says Ray Tanner, current head coach at South Carolina, an assistant coach at NC State in 1987, and the Wolfpack’s head coach from 1988-96. “He was such a great all-around player. There just wasn’t anything on the baseball field that he couldn’t do and do well.”
As if Bark’s career numbers weren’t impressive enough, he was even better in the postseason. He played in three NCAA Regionals, 1987, 1988 and 1990, and batted .417 with three doubles, two home runs, 10 runs scored and six RBIs in seven games. He walked seven times.
He also started a pair of games on the mound, and while his record shows only a loss and a no decision, his NCAA Tournament ERA was 2.92 in 12 1/3 innings.
While Bark was never named to an All-America team, a stunning oversight, he did garner his share of recognition. Baseball America named him a Freshman All-American in 1987. He was voted All-Mid-Atlantic Region as a sophomore, junior and senior by the American Baseball Coaches Association. He is one of just four players in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference to earn All-ACC honors four times. He was named to the ACC’s 50-man 50th Anniversary Team in 2003.
In short, Bark left his mark on the NC State baseball program, but the baseball program in turn left its mark on him.
“I couldn’t have been surrounded by better people or coaches, or been at a university that was a better fit for me,” Bark says. “The people I met there, those relationships have been lifelong. The people who brought me there, Coach Tanner and Coach Esposito, they believed in me and what I could accomplish, and they did everything to make me a better person and give me a full, well-rounded education.”
Bark came to NC State after a stellar prep career at Randallstown High School in Randallstown, Md. His father was Jerry Bark, one of the University of Maryland’s all-time greats and a minor league pitcher for the New York Mets in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Jerry Bark taught his sons how to play the game the right way, Brian’s younger brother Robbie followed Brian to NC State, where they were teammates in 1990.
“Without question, that’s about the most amazing thing that can happen to a family,” Brian Bark says.
Brian made an immediate impact as a freshman with the Wolfpack in 1987, batting .351 with 16 doubles, 11 home runs and 49 RBIs, while going 4-2 with a 4.93 ERA on the mound.
The following year, 1988, Bark turned in one of the best seasons ever by an NC State player. Offensively, he batted .398 with 20 doubles, 13 home runs and 61 RBIs. He set school records with 83 runs scored and 100 hits. On the mound, he was 7-3 with a 3.78 ERA, and held opposing hitters to a .236 batting average.
The 1988 Wolfpack was probably the best offensive team in NC State history. Bark batted second in the lineup and helped ignite an offense that set a slew of school records, including a .345 batting average, 123 home runs and a 1010 team OPS (on-base plus slugging.
Bark’s season hit its zenith on May 27 in the NCAA East Regional in Tallahassee, Fla. After losing its opening-round game 1-0 to Tulane and future big league righthander Gerald Alexander, NC State turned around to face sixth-ranked and top-seeded Florida in an elimination game for the Pack.
Bark singlehandedly buried the Gators that day, going 6-for-6 with a double, two home runs and five RBIs to lead the Wolfpack to a 13-3 laugher. The six hits tied the NCAA Tournament record for hits in a game, a record that still stands.
“That 6-for-6 game, to me that was just another day at the office,” Bark says. “We just needed to get a few big hits to get our offense rolling.”
Bark’s role on the mound changed following the 1988 season. Still a vital part of the NC State offense, he took on a much more important role with the pitching staff, shifting from the starting rotation to the bullpen as the team’s closer.
“I feel like I made an impact as a player, especially with the help of my coaches there,” Bark says. “And late in my career, Ray [Tanner] showed his faith in me. He played me every day, started me on the mound in conference games, and later he used me to close conference games. He put a lot of responsibility on my shoulders.”
Offensively, Bark was still outstanding, hitting .325 with 15 doubles, seven homers and 41 RBIs as a junior, and .261 with 19 doubles, 10 home runs, 48 RBIs and a personal-best 16 stolen bases as a senior in 1990.
On the mound, however, he made more appearances in critical situations. He was 3-4 with a 4.95 ERA and a school-record 11 saves as a junior in 1989. The Baltimore Orioles selected him in the 28th round of the Major League Baseball draft, but he opted to return to school for his senior season.
“I wanted to play professional baseball, but I knew I had to have a plan for after baseball,” Bark says. “Getting my college education was important to me, so I went back to school.”
The return to NC State paid off handsomely. He earned his B.A. in communication, got to finish a great career and set all those career records. He played for a 48-20 team in 1990 that won a school-record 19 consecutive games, advanced to the finals of the ACC Tournament and to the semifinals of the NCAA Atlantic Regional.
Returning to NC State in 1990 also meant that Brian played in the same outfield with his brother, assuring that at least three Barks ­— Brian, Robbie and Jerry — were at every NC State game but one that year. Brian missed the April 11 game vs. UNC Wilmington, snapping his consecutive-games-played streak at 215 games.
“I was sick as a dog with some kind of virus that day,” Bark says. “I wanted to play, but Coach Tanner wouldn’t even let me come to the ballpark.”
The missed game did not detract from an excellent senior season. The Atlanta Braves took him in the 12th round of that year’s draft after he went 4-2 with a 3.46 ERA and nine saves as a senior.
Bark signed with the Braves and advanced all the way to Triple-A Richmond just two years later, a remarkably fast rise. In 1995 he made it to the big leagues, pitching three games and working 2 1/3 scoreless innings for the Boston Red Sox.
A year after making it to the major leagues, Bark retired as a player and went to work as an assistant to then-New York Mets scouting director John Barr. Following a front-office shakeup a few years later, he left the Mets and began his own business as an information technology consultant.
When one of the companies he was consulting was purchased by the Smiths Group, a multinational manufacturing conglomerate, Bark went as part of the acquisition. More than a decade later, he is still with the Smiths Group and has moved up the ranks, now serving as vice president for strategic partnering for the Smiths Group, and as executive chief information officer for John Crane, which is one of the Smiths Group’s many successful international businesses.
Highly successful in the business world, Bark looks back and traces the roots of much of his current success to his Hall-of-Fame playing days at Doak Field.
“I think the teams I was a part of at NC State were some of the most fantastic teams,” Bark says. “We didn’t always bring in the most talented players but we seemed to get the most out of our ability. We had great coaches who taught us how to play the game the right way. I was so fortunate to play with guys like Turtle Zaun, Scott Snead, Gary and Steve Shingledecker, Alex Wallace.
“Playing at NC State helped prepare me for the rest of my life. Playing there was all about attitude, about resilience and perseverance, about getting up when you’re knocked down and always moving forward.”
· By Bruce Winkworth, bruce_winkworth@ncsu.edu.