Ken Spangenberg ’08 led the Baseball team to a standout season in his first year as Head Coach. Coming off of a 2011 campaign with only three wins, Spangenberg set out “to bring pride to the program,  recruit successful student-athletes, and connect with alumni” in an effort to revitalize the program. As a result, the 2012 team concluded the year with an 18-21 record and was in contention to enter the conference playoffs on the last day of the regular season.

Despite narrowly missing out on post-season play, this past season was one of great progress and a promising future. Spangenberg wasn’t surprised by his team’s successes on the field. “In many ways, we had a very successful year; however, we are not trying to be a .500 program or a program that is ‘competitive’,” notes Spangenberg.  “This past season wasn’t an accident, it was a result of a lot of hard work and sacrifice… [and] concepts that will always be at the heart of this program and will eventually be the reason why we experience success far greater than what we experienced this past season.”

The invigorated program will seek to improve on their successes and continue to build upon the team’s support base. Spangenberg is thankful for the alumni support and looks to continue to bring pride to the program and further connect with alumni.

“The support I received all year from alumni and the campus community was overwhelming…it made winning that much more gratifying knowing that we were rejuvenating pride for the program and the University in alumni.”

Despite winning a combined eight games at home over the three seasons prior to his appointment as head coach, the Spangenberg-led Knights went 10-6 at home and thrived on home soil. Three of their ten home wins came against teams that would end up making the conference playoffs, a statistic reflective of not only the team’s quality, but also the support received from the Arcadia community.