After toiling as a veteran college baseball umpire for over 20 years, Great Bend’s Randy Wetzel is finally getting the opportunity to call a College World Series.
Wetzel never made it to Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb., for the annual CWS. He had always wanted to go there as an umpire, but never got the call. It wouldn’t be the same as going there and calling a game, he reasoned, so he never made the trip, not even as a spectator.
All of that changed this season. Wetzel has been selected to work on one of the two four-man crews for the CWS. The 16-team NCAA tournament begins Saturday at brand-spanking-new TD Ameritrade Park.
“You always work towards that goal,” Wetzel said. “The first goal is to get a regional, then a super regional and finally, this one.
“It is very rewarding and very exciting. College World Series umpires don’t have to work super regionals, so I’ve been spending the last couple weeks preparing.”
This week culminates a long wait for Wetzel. A 1973 graduate of Great Bend High School and an assistant principal at GBHS, Wetzel has umpired NCAA Division-I games, including Wichita State and the Big Eight and Big 12 Conference tournaments, over the years.
Also a basketball referee and an official for KCAC and NCAA Division-II football for several years, Wetzel had the honor of being named to the officiating crew for a Division II title game nearly a decade ago.
Yet, Wetzel’s appointment at this year’s CWS is a crowning moment for the longtime official.
“You’ve got to pay your dues,” Wetzel said. “I was on the short list to go to Omaha (in 2002) and my left knee went bad on me.
“One of the things that is important in an umpire is having mobility and they didn’t feel like I had the mobility to do the job.”
Enter Doc Fleske, a Great Bend surgeon, and Keyvn Soupiset, a physical therapist. The two were instrumental on his road to recovery from his left-knee replacement, according to the 56-year-old Wetzel.
“I got a knee replacement three years ago,” he said. “(LT) Fleske did my knee and Keyvn rehabbed me and they did a great job.
“If  I would have gotten a knee replacement the old way, Doc told me that I would have to quit officiating. One time, he came back with a new knee that he said was made just for me. It was made to roam and ever since then, my stock went up and that’s the reason why I’m able to still do this.”
Wetzel also credits his wife Brenda for helping him pursue his goal of becoming a college baseball umpire on the biggest stage.
“Her putting up with me, being gone every weekend during the spring, has allowed me do to do that,” he said. “She has been understanding and her contributions have been just as important as anything I have ever done.”
Wetzel got his first taste of the big-time back when he began umpiring semi-pro baseball in Hutchinson in the early 1980s, which featured up-and-coming college players that would become future  major-league stars.
“We umpired guys like Pete Incaviglia (Oklahoma State), Rafael Palmeiro (Mississippi State) and Barry Bonds (Arizona State) with the Hutchinson Broncos,” Wetzel said. “They all played in the same outfield.
“They had a guy by the name of Roger Clemens  (Texas) pitching for them. Umpiring that summer ball taught me how to umpire, how to handle great players. They knew the strike zone, they knew the game and they got after it. You had to be good and get after it and they made you a better umpire.”
As of late, Wetzel, who has to be in Omaha on Friday at noon for check-in time, has been busy playing different scenarios in his mind, something that might unexpectedly arise in one of the upcoming games.
“You’ve always got the rule book close to you,” Wetzel said. “I try to look at the rule book as much as I can.
“The last couple weeks, I’ve probably been looking at it more than I ever have.”