Pete Appleton - University of Michigan

University of Michigan

Jablonowski attended the University of Michigan. He was a pitcher for the Michigan Wolverines baseball team for three years from 1924 to 1926. He helped lead the 1924 Michigan team to a 16–7 overall record (8–2 in conference) and the Big Ten Conference championship. During a trip to the South in the early part of the season, Jablonowski was the starting pitcher in Michigan's first win of the 1924 season, a 10–1 victory over Alabama Polytechnical School (now known as Auburn University). In his second start on the road trip, Jablonowski won a 3–1 decision against Mississippi A&M College (now known as Mississippi State University). The 1925 Michiganensian noted: "Jablonowski showed excellent form on the mound." On May 31, 1924, he was the winning pitcher and struck out 11 batters in the game that secured the Big Ten championship for Michigan — a 9–0 shutout victory against Wisconsin. In the final game of the 1924 season, Jablonowski threw a complete game shutout, allowing only five hits and striking out 13 batters in an 11–0 victory over Japan's championship team from Meiji University.

In 1925, Jablonowski helped lead the Michigan baseball team to a 17–8 record. In the Big Ten Conference opener on May 2, 1925, he threw a one-hitter against Illinois, but lost 1–0 after two throwing errors allowed the Illini to score a run. The 1926 Michiganensian described the one hit allowed by Jablonowski as a "scratch hit," and some opined that the game should have been called a no-hitter as the hit came on a bobbled ground ball that the Illinois scorer credited as a base hit.

As a senior in 1926, Jablonowski helped lead Michigan to another Big Ten Conference baseball championship. In the third game of the season, Jablonowski shut out Vanderbilt, and Michigan won, 7–0. Jablonowski was also a strong batter for Michigan, compiling a .342 batting average in 1926 – the third highest on the team behind William H. Puckelwartz (.441) and Bennie Oosterbaan (.364).

Although the University of Michigan yearbooks identified Jablonowski as a pitcher, Appleton's obituary in The Sporting News noted that he also played shortstop and was part of a Michigan infield that was known as the "jawbreaker infield," including Jablonowski, Oosterbaan and Puckelwartz. The three did play together on the 1926 Michigan baseball team, but Puckelwartz played centerfield, Oosterbaan right field, and Jablonowski was a pitcher.

While attending Michigan, Jablonowski lived at Fletcher Hall and was a member of the Polonia Literary Club.