BEREA, OHIO -- Baldwin-Wallace College first-year Head Baseball Coach Brian Harrison has announced the hiring of Bob Merritt and Timothy Spatz as assistant coaches. Merritt will work with the pitchers. Spatz will coach the catchers and assist with the hitters.
"Both Bob and Tim are going to bring passion and energy to the program," said Harrison. "They have numerous years of experience coaching players that have had successful careers. The way they teach the game and care about each kid is what makes them great coaches."
Merritt comes to the College after spending the last 30 years as the head baseball coach at Crestwood High School in Mantua, Ohio. In his final season, Merritt was named the Portage County Coach of the Year for the fifth time in his career. He finished with 406 wins and was a 2009 inductee into the Northeast Ohio Baseball Coaches Association (NEOBCA) Hall of Fame. He coached 47 players that went on to careers in the collegiate ranks, two of which obtained All-American honors. In addition, Merritt was the offensive coordinator for the Hiram College football team from 1984-94 and an assistant football coach at Crestwood from 1996-2006. Merritt earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Miami University (Ohio) and a Master of Education degree from Xavier University.
Spatz comes to B-W from nearby Strongsville High School where he served as assistant coach from 2005-06 and 2009-10. He also had a three-year stint (2006-08) as the outfield and hitting coach at Cleveland State University. While at Strongsville, Spatz helped lead one of the most successful high school teams in the Greater Cleveland area, including the state championship squad of 2006. Prior to his time at Strongsville and CSU, Spatz was the head coach at Columbia High School from 2000-04 and led his team to a pair of conference championships and three runner-up seasons. Spatz also served as head wrestling coach at Columbia from 2001-02 and was named the Mac-8 Coach of the Year. He has been an assistant coach for the Berea Blue Sox summer league team (which consists of players from small colleges throughout the area) for the past nine seasons. Spatz received a Bachelor of Education degree from Bowling Green State University and holds two Master of Arts degrees, one in curriculum and instruction from Ashland University and one in sociology from Cleveland State University.
FOR MORE B-W Sports Information, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu or Assistant SID Nick Minerd by phone at 440-826-2780 and e-mail at nminerd@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest B-W athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter athttp://twitter.com/bwathletics.
