WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Mike Odenwaelder has been named the eighth head baseball coach in the 75-year history of the Eastern Connecticut State University program, it has been announced by director of athletics Lori Runksmeier.
A native of Goshen, Odenwaelder, 29, replaces Brian Hamm, who compiled a four-year record of 108-30 and won the program's fifth NCAA Division III national championship last month before recently accepting the head coaching position at Yale University.
"We are so excited to welcome Mike as our next head baseball coach" said Runksmeier. "Mike's baseball acumen will serve us well, and I believe he is especially well-positioned to forge the relationships with student-athletes that are at the heart of any successful program. Mike is uniquely qualified to recruit well in today's ever-changing athletics landscape and I look forward to working with him as we ensure that Eastern baseball continues its proud tradition."
Odenwaelder served as assistant coach at Dartmouth College in the spring of 2022 under veteran head coach Bob Whalen after four seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at his alma mater, Amherst College. Odenwaelder assisted Hamm for one season (2018) and head coach J.P. Pyne for three. Dartmouth was 24-19 in 2022, 14-7 in the Ivy League and Amherst compiled an overall 53-31-1 record and won two conference titles during Odenwaelder's coaching tenure.
"The biggest things that drew me to Eastern were that it's a place where you can win, it has a strong sense of community, and it brings me back home to Connecticut," noted Odenwaelder. "Having a head coaching role has always been my end goal, and I don't see this job as a stop along the way. This is a type of destination job. I don't plan on using it as a steppingstone to the next big thing… and that's a testament to Eastern."
Added Odenwaelder, "Eastern is a place where you can win, and where it's also a tight-knit community, and that's been a blessing that I've had in each of my stops in college baseball. I've been at schools that have had a lot of school pride and a strong sense of community, and that's something that I noticed during the interview process (at Eastern) and in my conversations with people who have been involved with Eastern."
Odenwaelder takes over one of the winningest programs in Division III baseball history, with the Warriors coming off their winningest (49-3) season ever and fifth NCAA national title since 1982. A number of solid players return from that veteran team, which was dominated by seniors, graduate students and transfers.
Odenwaelder welcomes the challenge of maintaining the program's standard of excellence.
"It's a great situation to be stepping into because of the strong foundation that's already in place," he says. "There's already a real strong foundation of a successful culture and it will be nice to step into a program where we're looking to re-load and not rebuild. I've talked to (returning players) who had major roles on the team last year and guys who had minor roles on the team last year, and there hasn't been a negative thing said about a teammate. It's all been geared toward being competitive on the baseball field and creating a competitive and strong team culture."
Odenwaelder was recruited to play at Amherst by Hamm after a successful career at Wamogo Regional High School in Litchfield. He was an outfielder and parttime pitcher during his three-year (2013-15) playing career at Amherst before being drafted in the 16th round of the 2015 First-Year Player Draft by the Baltimore Orioles and playing two seasons in their organization. As a junior at Amherst, the two-time NESCAC Player-of-the-Year and 2013 NESCAC Rookie-of-the-Year was named to the ABCA Division III national Gold Glove team (New England's only selection). In his career, he helped Amherst to three straight NCAA tournaments for the first time ever, its first 30-win season as a junior and to an overall record of 84-39. Odenwaelder compiled a three-year batting average of .372, leading the club in hitting as both a sophomore (.420) and junior (.380).