California Baptist University’s baseball team experienced 39 wins and 15 losses during the 2014 season, which helped carry them to the post season, and they plan to continue this success with the addition of a new coach.
Caleb Longshore was hired in August as the new assistant coach to Gary Adcock, head coach of CBU’s baseball team. Longshore is coming from a successful year at Oklahoma Wesleyan, where the baseball team set a school record for wins in one season and reached the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics World Series.
As an experienced coach who has headed up both high school and travel teams, Longshore was hired as an assistant head coach at Oklahoma Wesleyan, where he was in charge of the pitching staff as well as recruiting. Oklahoma Wesleyan ended its 2014 season ranked third in the nation.
In a statement released by CBU Athletics, Adcock said he looks forward to the “positive impact” Longshore will have on the team.
“From my initial conversations with Caleb, I could sense his passion for coaching, recruiting, pitching and, in particular, player development,” Adcock said in the statement.
His former players have found Longshore’s investment in them to be valuable. This is evident when considering two players from Oklahoma Wesleyan were taken in the 2014
Major League Baseball Draft. In addition to the Oklahoma players, two players from Longshore’s years with the Middle Tennessee Outlaws prep travel team were also picked in this year’s MLB draft.
“I have found that when players feel that you are truly invested in them as people, then they become deeply invested in the program and productivity is taken to the next level,” Longshore said.
Adcock said Longshore’s desire to be committed to helping the players reach their full potential is something he looks forward to seeing.
“Caleb (Longshore) has an intense desire to be the best at what he does. Whether it be on the recruiting trail, in the office, or on the diamond his attention to detail and energy level is exemplary,” Adcock said. “It will be hard for our current and future players not to be motivated directly or indirectly by his example.”
In a statement released by CBU Athletics, Longshore said, “I feel that CBU is a great place for young men to grow athletically, academically and spiritually during their time at the university.”
Although he has only been coaching baseball since 2011, the new assistant baseball coach has taken each opportunity to invest in players and the programs they represent. He looks at his new job at CBU as one more way to invest in the young men on the team and wants to bring new perspective to the job that will be in tune with the tradition CBU has earned under Coach Adcock.
