GRANTHAM, Pa. - On Thursday morning, Messiah University announced the hiring of Phill Shallenberger as the new head coach of the Messiah baseball team. Shallenberger brings over a decade of coaching experience to Grantham, with multiple assistant coaching stops along with four years as the head coach of the Cairn University Highlanders in Langhorne, Pa. In his most recent stop. Shallenberger was the General Manager and 17u Head Baseball Coach at the Park Sports Complex and Powerballers Baseball in the Lehigh Valley. Shallenberger will begin his new role with the Falcons later this month on Sept. 20.
"We are so excited to welcome Phill into the Messiah community as our new head baseball coach.," said Athletic Director Sarah Gustin-Hamrock on Thursday. "Phill's passion for wholistic student-athlete development and his enthusiasm for baseball was evident from the start. He brings a strong track record of coaching experience and a commitment to building team culture."
As mentioned, Shallenberger brings more than a decade of coaching experience to Grantham, with exactly 10 seasons at the collegiate ranks. His collegiate coaching career has included assistant coaching stops at Geneva College (three years), Cairn University (two years), and Belmont University (one year), before being named the head coach at Cairn University for four seasons.
"I just want to say how excited I am to be a part of the Messiah Community and to be on this journey with the team and everyone at Messiah," said Shallenberger of his appointment. "Messiah is a place my wife, Courtney, and I have envisioned our family at for quite some time and I'm so excited that this is becoming a reality."
A 2010 graduate of Geneva College, Shallenberger was a four-year baseball player for the Golden Tornados splitting time between shortstop and the mound. Shallenberger was Geneva's everyday shortstop and also served as the team's closer. After finishing his time on the field, Shallenberger stayed on the bench for three years at Geneva as a graduate assistant coach.
Shallenberger then headed to Cairn University to serve as an assistant coach and resident director. After two years, he headed to Nashville and took a resident director role at Belmont University when he had the chance to work as a graduate assistant for their Division I baseball program as well. After just one year in Nashville, Shallenberger headed back over to take the head coaching position at Cairn University.
With Shallenberger at the helm, Cairn earned their first-ever berth into the CSAC Tournament in 2019, advancing to the Conference Championship Series. While the Highlanders fell to national-power Keystone in the final, Shallenberger was named the Conference Coach of the Year for the Highlanders' aggressive style. Cairn was second in the country in stolen bases with 140 while also setting the program record for home runs in a season with 22.
Shallenberger spent the summer of 2020 in Savannah, Ga. with the Savannah Bananas, a top-tier collegiate summer league team that had three players drafted in the 2021 MLB draft and two other signed to professional contracts.
Most recently, Shallenberger worked as the general manager for the soon-to-be-built The Park sports complex in the Lehigh Valley, but is excited about getting back into collegiate coaching, particularly at Messiah.
"I can't thank Sarah Gustin-Hamrock and the search committee enough for the opportunity to come to a department with such a storied tradition," said Shallenberger on Thursday. "Just from the limited interactions I've had with the team, I can tell there are some incredible players on the roster already, incredible young men that are excited to lead in the right way. Our focus as a staff will be about pouring into these young men and helping them grow spiritually, academically, and athletically, but more importantly it will be about making sure our team knows there is a bigger picture outside of just the sport of baseball."
Shallenberger becomes the 13th head coach in Messiah baseball history and takes over a program that has had historic success with five Conference Championships in a 10-year stretch from 2003-2012. More recently, the Falcons advanced to the Conference Championship Game in 2016 while also making trips to the MAC Commonwealth Tournament in 2014, 2015, and 2021. Messiah went 12-16-1 in a COVID-altered 2021 season.
Phill, his wife Courtney, and their sons Rhett and Ryder will be moving to the greater Grantham area later this month.