Cal Poly Baseball Coaching Staff

 Larry Lee

Head Coach • Tenth Season
Pepperdine '83 (Master's: Cal Poly '85)

The success Larry Lee enjoyed in 16 seasons as head baseball coach at Cuesta College has carried over to Cal Poly.

The Mustangs earned their first NCAA Division I regional playoff berth in 2009 and Lee has guided the Mustangs to six winning seasons in the last eight years, including a 38-23-1 mark in 2004 to break the school record for wins in a season as a member of Division I, 36 more wins and a second-place tie in the Big West Conference in 2005 and 37 victories and a third-place conference finish in 2009.

Lee begins his 10th season at the helm in 2012, having led Cal Poly to four 30-win campaigns, a 273-233-2 mark (53.9 winning percentage) and seven top-four Big West finishes.

After serving as head baseball coach at Cuesta College for 16 seasons, Lee was hired on July 22, 2002 to guide the Mustang program.

Under Lee’s guidance, Cal Poly has finished in the upper half of the Big West Conference standings seven times in nine years, including a third-place finish (15-9) in 2011.

In 2005, the Mustangs missed the NCAA playoffs despite their second-place conference finish, wins over Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State and a final RPI of No. 58.

The 2006 squad won 11 of 17 three-game series while the 2007 Mustangs won 19 of their final 27 games en route to a 32-24 record.

In nine seasons with the Mustangs, Lee has produced 17 first-team All-Big West players, three All-Americans and a quartet of freshman All-Americans. A total of 45 Cal Poly players coached by Lee have signed professional baseball contracts, including 43 in the last eight years.

From 2004-09, a total of 15 Mustangs were drafted in the first 10 rounds, including Garrett Olson in the first round (compensatory) in 2005 and Grant Desme in the second round in 2007. Bobby Crocker was a fourth-round selection in 2011 while Jeff Johnson was taken in the 10th round, giving Cal Poly 17 players drafted in the top 10 rounds over the last eight years.

Lee led Cuesta to the California Community College State Final Four on four occasions, all in the last 11 years of his 16-year tenure. The Cougars reached the state’s Final Four in 1992, 1997, 2001 and 2002 and qualified for the Southern California Regionals each of the last six years, including a No. 1 seed in 1999 and No. 2 in 2002.

Lee's overall record at Cuesta was 460-241-3, including a state-leading 44 wins in 1997. His teams qualified for the regionals 11 times in his last 13 years and Lee is No. 15 on the state's community college baseball coaches’ list for career wins.

Under Lee's leadership, Cuesta claimed nine Western State Conference titles, including six in a row (1997-2002), and averaged 38 wins during that six-year stretch. His teams produced a 267-119 record in conference games and Lee earned conference coach of the year honors eight times.

During Lee's tenure at Cuesta from 1987-2002, he produced 26 all-state players, three Southern California Players of the Year and numerous professionals. Thirteen of his 16 teams finished above the .500 mark overall, including the last seven.

Lee led his 2002 team to a school-record 24 consecutive wins en route to a 43-9 mark and a third-place state finish.

In 11 postseason appearances, Lee's teams compiled a 34-28 win-loss record.

Lee, a 1979 San Luis Obispo High School graduate, was a standout baseball and football player for the Tigers before going on to play baseball at Santa Barbara City College (1980), Orange Coast College (1981) and Pepperdine University (1982-83).

Lee was a first-team All-South Coast Conference selection at Orange Coast College as well as a second-team All-Southern California pick.

At Pepperdine, Lee was a career .304 hitter and, as a junior, earned first-team All-Southern California Baseball Association and second-team All-District 8 honors as the Waves posted a 46-21-1 record and earned a berth in the NCAA West Regional at Fresno State.

Lee hit 13 sacrifice flies for Pepperdine in 1982, tied for No. 2 in the NCAA record book for sacrifice flies in a season.

He enjoyed a brief professional baseball career, playing one year for the Utica Bluesox (1983) and ending his career in the Seattle Mariners' organization.

Before becoming head coach at Cuesta College in 1987, Lee served as an assistant coach for the Cougars for two seasons (1984-85) and at Cal Poly for one year (1986).

Lee earned his bachelor's degree in physical education/kinesiology from Pepperdine in 1983 and a master's degree in physical education from Cal Poly in 1985 as well as an adaptive physical education credential from Cal Poly in 1988.

Lee and his wife, Liz, reside in San Luis Obispo with their two children, Jenna and Brooks.

 

 Jason Kelly

Assistant Coach/Pitching Coach • Sixth Year
University of Phoenix '07

Jason Kelly, pitching coach at Chico State in 2005 and 2006, returned to his alma mater to coach the pitchers in January 2007.

Kelly helped the Wildcats to appearances in the NCAA Division II College World Series both seasons. Chico State finished 42-16-1 in 2005 and posted an 0-2 mark in College World Series play and was national runner-up in the Spring of 2006 with a 46-21 record.

Kelly oversaw a staff that compiled a team ERA of 3.00 in 2005, the sixth lowest in the nation, and 3.55 in 2006. At Cal Poly, Kelly guided the 2011 pitching staff to a 3.60 ERA, the lowest for the Mustangs in their 17-year Division I history.

Kelly spent 2004 as an administrative assistant at Cal Poly. He was an assistant coach at Cuesta Community College in 2003 and also has three years of experience coaching collegiate summer baseball clubs, including the San Luis Obispo Blues in 2002 and 2003 and the Anchorage Glacier Bucs in 2004.

Kelly pitched collegiately at Cal Poly (1999), redshirted in 2000, played one season at Cuesta College (2001) and wrapped up his career by leading Missouri Valley College to a regional title game in 2002. Kelly was 10-0 in 2001 at Cuesta and, in his one season at Cal Poly, he posted a 3-1 record and 7.91 ERA, striking out 30 batters in 33 innings.

Kelly, a 1998 St. Joseph High School graduate, and his wife of four years, Tracy, have one daughter, Peyton, born in February 2008, and one son, Cade, born in September 2009.

 

 Teddy Warrecker

Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator • Second Year
Cal State Northridge '02

Teddy Warrecker, head baseball coach at Santa Barbara City College the last 10 seasons, joined the Cal Poly baseball program as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in August 2010.

"Teddy brings a lot of energy to the program," said Cal Poly head coach Larry Lee. "He has valuable experience as a head coach and, being at the junior college level, had to be a jack of all trades.

"Teddy is an integral part of our recruiting, oversees our catchers and represents the program extremely well," Lee added. "He is very talented in a number of different areas and we're excited and fortunate to have him on our staff."

Warrecker, who turns 39 in October, compiled a 193-198-2 record as the part-time head coach of the Vaqueros. Prior to his arrival, the team had endured 19 straight sub-.500 seasons.

"It's been a dream of mine to coach at the Division I level," added Warrecker, the son of legendary Santa Barbara High coach Fred Warrecker. "I've known for at least five years that's where I wanted to be. Coach Lee approached me about the job and it really came out of left field."

In the last seven years, Warrecker guided Santa Barbara to six winning campaigns, including a 20-16 mark last spring, and three regional playoff appearances. The Vaqueros have gone 102-65 (.611 winning percentage) over the last four seasons.

Warrecker, named head coach at SBCC in January 2001, guided the 2008 Vaqueros to six wins in their last seven games to secure a spot in the Southern California Regionals for the third time in four seasons. The 2007 squad won 13 straight games to claim a playoff berth, break the school record for wins (34) and bring home the first Western State Conference North Division title since 1972.

The 2005 team reached the postseason for the first time since 1978. That Vaquero squad led the state in ERA, finishing the regular season with a 24-13 mark. The 2004 Vaqueros posted the school's first winning campaign in 23 years, finishing with a 19-16 record overall.

Warrecker, who has five brothers, attended Santa Barbara High School and played for his father and head coach, Fred Warrecker, who recently completed his 37th season as head coach.

Warrecker was a catcher and first baseman at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria and was a two-time first-team all-conference selection, first-team All-Northern California and first-team All-State. He helped the Bulldogs win the Coast Valley Conference championship in 1993, while setting school career marks in home runs and RBI.

The following summer Warrecker played for the Kenai Oilers of the Alaskan Baseball League, a team that went on to win the NBC National Championship in Wichita, Kansas. He attended the University of Arizona before signing with the Cleveland Indians after his junior year.

Warrecker spent six years in the minor leagues as a pitcher with the Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves. In addition, he was invited to the Indians' Major League Camp as part of the 40-man roster in 1997. Warrecker also played in the final season, since reformed, of the Hawaii Winter League for the West Oahu Cane Fires.

After professional baseball, Warrecker completed his bachelor's degree in history at Cal State Northridge and recently finished his master's degree in sport science from the United States Sports Academy.

Prior to his 10-year stint at SBCC, Warrecker assisted his father at Santa Barbara High School, where the Dons won the Channel League in 1999, and 2000 and reached the CIF-Southern Section Division II championship game at Dodger Stadium in 2000.

Over the past several year, Warrecker has been invited to instruct at Showcase Camps at UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly as well as camps hosted by Baseball Factory, Area Code, ESPN Rise, TPX Top 96, and the Trosky School of Baseball.

Warrecker coached over 50 players who went on to play at the four-year and professional levels.

Lee, who played one year at SBCC (1980), was inducted into the California Community College Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this year and asked Warrecker to introduce him.

"That was an incredible honor," said Warrecker. "Out of all the players who had played for him and coaches who had worked with him, he chose me. We've had a connection and now we're going to be together and I think it's going to be a great fit."

Baseball is synonymous with the Warrecker family name. Father Fred was MVP for the UCSB Gauchos baseball squad in 1960, while brothers Willy, Wes and Donovan played at California, San Francisco State and UCSB respectively. Tony played water polo at Santa Barbara High while Jonathan was a wrestler.

Warrecker and his wife Taryn, have two sons: Troy, who turned 5 on Aug. 7, 2011, and Crosby, born Aug. 18, 2011.

 

 Alex Hoover

Volunteer Assistant Coach • Second Season
San Francisco State '05

Alex Hoover, a St. Joseph High School graduate in nearby Santa Maria, was hired in the fall of 2010 as Cal Poly's volunteer assistant coach after serving the previous four years as an assistant coach under Teddy Warrecker at Santa Barbara City College.

Hoover helped SBCC to four consecutive winning seasons and a 102-65 overall mark. The Vaqueros won the Western State Conference's North Division title in 2001 and qualified for the California Community College state playoffs in both 2007 and 2008. He was the team's infield coach, worked with the hitters and was the third-base coach.

Hoover was an assistant coach for the Santa Barbara Foresters the last two summers. The Foresters posted a 40-9 record, won the California Collegiate League championship and finished third in the National Baseball Congress World Series in 2010 and, last summer, captured the CCL title again as well as the NBC World Series for the third time.

Prior to his coaching stint at SBCC, Hoover was Director of Baseball Operations for head coach Ed Sprague at Pacific. The Tigers earned 30 wins in 2006.

Born and raised in Grover Beach, Hoover was a baseball teammate of current Cal Poly pitching coach Jason Kelly at St. Joseph High and also played basketball and football.

Hoover was a second baseman for the Knights, played on the 1997 team which went 29-0 and captured a CIF-Southern Section division title. Hoover twice led the Knights to Los Padres League championships and earned All-Los Padres League honors as a second baseman.

Hoover also was a guard on the Knights' 1998 Los Padres League and CIF-Southern Section division title-winning basketball team. He also was a quarterback and safety on the St. Joseph football team and earned all-league honors on defense. The Knights reached the CIF-Southern Section playoffs in both Hoover's junior and senior seasons.

Hoover went on to play one season (2001) of baseball at Santa Barbara CC under Warrecker, then transferred to San Francisco State and was a utility infielder for the Gators. He served as the Gators' volunteer assistant in 2004 and 2005 while completing his bachelor's degree in recreation and leisure studies.

Hoover, whose father Jack is a Cal Poly graduate, has become a fixture along the Central and South Coast instructing at showcase camps for UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly, Baseball Factory, ESPN Rise and The Trosky School of Baseball.

 

 Kevin Castner

Undergraduate Assistant Coach • First Season
Cal Poly

Kevin Castner will serve as an undergraduate assistant coach at Cal Poly this spring, working with the pitchers.

Castner pitched for three seasons with the Mustangs after a redshirt year in 2006, compiling a 1-2 record and 7.26 ERA with one save. After his junior season with the Mustangs in 2009, he was drafted in the 26th round of the 2009 Major League Draft by the Texas Rangers and pitched briefly for the Spokane Indians in the Northwest League before suffering a season-ending injury. He underwent Tommy John surgery in August 2009, is still on the Rangers' unassigned list and could return to the Rangers' organization this spring. Castner also was drafted by the Rangers in 2008, but the 10th-round draftee (303rd overall pick) chose to return to Cal Poly for another season.

Castner appeared in 16 games as a junior in 2009, 20 games in 2008 as Cal Poly's closer and seven games in 2007, allowing no earned runs in his first five appearances on the mound. He earned his only collegiate win against UCLA in 2008 and two-thirds scoreless innings. His save, also in 2008, was against Cal, pitching 3.1 scoreless frames with a career-high five strikeouts. He started one game in 2008 against Fresno State.

Castner is a 2005 graduate of Acalanes High School in Lafayette, Calif., earning first-team All-Diablo Foothill Athletic League honors as a senior pitcher. He also placed third base and in the outfield.

Castner is a social science major at Cal Poly.

 

Thomas Eager

Director of Baseball Operations • Second Season
Cal Poly/University of Phoenix

Thomas Eager, a pitcher at Cal Poly in 2006 and 2007 who also pitched four seasons in the minor leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals organization, is in his second season as Director of Baseball Operations at his alma mater.

Eager compiled an 11-3 record and 3.43 ERA as a sophomore in 2007, striking out 99 batters in 126 innings en route to first-team All-Big West Conference honors. He was 1-2 with a 4.15 ERA as a redshirt freshman in 2006.

Eager was drafted in the fifth round by St. Louis following the 2007 season and played for the Batavia Muckdogs (New York-Penn League), Quad Cities RiverBandits (Midwest League), Palm Beach Cardinals (Florida State League) and Springfield Cardinals (Texas League), compiling a 15-21 career win-loss mark as a professional.

Eager was a three-year varsity letterman in baseball at Merced High, earning first-team All-Central California Conference honors as a senior and second team as a junior. He helped Merced win a CIF-Sac-Joaquin Section title as a sophomore in 2002.

Born in Visalia, Eager, 26, was a business administration major at Cal Poly. Married to 2008 Cal Poly graduate Jenna last November, he currently is pursuing a degree with the University of Phoenix.

 

Dick Morrow

Admistrative Assistant
14th Season (Cal Poly '55)

Dick Morrow, a 1955 Cal Poly graduate and a former Mustang third baseman in the early 1950s, returns for his 14th season assisting the Cal Poly baseball coaching staff.

Morrow was head baseball and basketball coach at San Luis Obispo High School from 1961-65 and was a counselor at the school for 25 years, retiring in 1987.

He was a Pismo Beach city councilman from 1986-94 and served as mayor for four years. He was an assistant baseball coach at Cal Poly under Howie O’Daniels in 1956.

Morrow served for the U.S. Army in the Korean War in 1953 and 1954. After earning All-California Collegiate Athletic Association honors as a third baseman, he earned his bachelor’s degree at Cal Poly in 1955, a master’s degree in 1960 and earned an education specialist certificate from Michigan State in 1972.

Morrow and his wife, Nancy, reside in Shell Beach.

 

 

 

Paul Gabrielson

Athletic Trainer
Tenth Season (Cal Poly '93)

Paul Gabrielson begins his 10th season with the Cal Poly Mustangs baseball team as athletic trainer.  He worked six seasons in the Philadelphia Phillies organization.  

With the Phillies, Gabrielson worked with minor league teams in Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, New Jersey, and New York and has spent time in the Appalachian League, South Atlantic League and New York Penn League as well as working spring training and fall instructional league in Clearwater, FL.

Gabrielson grew up in Pleasanton, Calif., and graduated from Amador Valley High School.  He attended Las Positas, Chabot and Ohlone colleges with interests in music, engineering and computer science, before finding athletic training and graduating with a bachelor of science degree in physical education from Cal Poly in 1993.  

He received his master of arts degree from San Diego State University in physical education in 1998, specializing in athletic training and biomechanics.

Gabrielson has been a Certified Athletic Trainer since 1993 and has worked at all levels of the profession, including high School, NAIA College Division, NCAA Division I, professional, and clinical settings.

Gabrielson married Laura Haney on July 12, 2008. They reside in Arroyo Grande and are proud parents of one son, Eric Olin, born June 1, 2010.  Paul is an avid cyclist and enjoys hiking, kayaking, and soaring of all forms.