{"id":75,"date":"2023-03-06T22:17:23","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T22:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pittcc.mycareerfocus.org\/fall-2023-volume-1-issue-1\/top-dog-eason-draws-upon-lifetime-of-baseball-experiences-to-establish-winning-program\/"},"modified":"2023-04-08T20:02:26","modified_gmt":"2023-04-08T20:02:26","slug":"top-dog-eason-draws-upon-lifetime-of-baseball-experiences-to-establish-winning-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pittcc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2023-volume-16-issue-1\/top-dog-eason-draws-upon-lifetime-of-baseball-experiences-to-establish-winning-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Dog: Eason Draws Upon Lifetime of Baseball Experiences to Establish Winning Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s early February at Pitt Community College, and the unmistakable \u2018ping\u2019 of a composite bat hitting a baseball cuts through the air at Minges-Overton Baseball Complex. For Tommy Eason, it\u2019s another day at the office, as he prepares for the 2023 season. The former minor leaguer has led the Bulldogs since 2005 \u2013 and it\u2019s been a remarkable run. He\u2019s won more than 500 games, and well over 100 of his players have moved on to the NCAA and\/or professional level. Two \u2013 Lonnie Chisenhall and Jeff Ferrell \u2013 reached the Major Leagues.<\/p>\n

Eason, a former catcher\/first baseman, says player development is the best part of coaching, along with teaching players how to become model citizens.<\/p>\n

\"Image

Tommy Eason<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cFor me, (success) is earning respect from the players and being respected by opposing teams and coaches, because they know Pitt does it the right way,\u201d Eason says.<\/p>\n

Though he can’t recall the first time he played baseball, Eason knows it was in the Greene County neighborhood of his youth, where he and his friends dreamed of becoming Major Leaguers. For Eason, Philadelphia’s Mike Schmidt was his favorite. He never got his autograph but did meet Schmidt as a member of the Phillies organization.<\/p>\n

After starring at Greene Central High School, Eason took his baseball talent to East Carolina University (ECU). Following his junior season in 1991, Philadelphia drafted him in the sixth round.<\/p>\n

Over four minor league seasons, Eason hit .285 with 30 homers and 145 RBIs, before diabetes ended his playing career. He\u2019d returned to ECU when his first coaching opportunity arose.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter minor league baseball, I went back to school to finish my undergraduate degree and was approached by Keith LeClair to join his staff, and the rest is history,\u201d Eason said. \u201cAs an assistant, I was a sponge \u2014 always listening and soaking in as much as I could \u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"After one season as a graduate assistant, Eason spent the next seven as the Pirates\u2019 pitching coach. In that time, five of his pitchers earned All-America honors and three pitching staffs finished among the NCAA\u2019s ERA leaders.\u00a0Eason was also inducted into ECU\u2019s Athletics Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

As Pitt\u2019s head coach, Eason says his greatest accomplishment has been taking the Bulldogs to the NJCAA World Series in 2010 and 2017. He\u2019s earned so many awards, including the N.C. Baseball Coaches Association\u2019s 2010 Coach of the Year, that he makes \u201ctaking 30 players and figuring out how to gel them into a team pulling on the same end of the rope\u201d look easy.<\/p>\n

The 52-year-old Eason says successful coaches lead by example, study the game continuously to learn new ways of teaching it, and adapt to technology. It\u2019s a recipe that\u2019s led to a 67% winning percentage (522-251) entering the 2023 season.<\/p>\n

While many dream of a sports career, Eason made it a reality by \u201cgetting to know the right people, being persistent, and treating people the way I want to be treated.\u201d For anyone hoping to follow in his footsteps, he says, \u201cBe patient, and be willing to put in a lot of work that goes unnoticed.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s early February at Pitt Community College, and the unmistakable \u2018ping\u2019 of a composite bat hitting a baseball cuts through the air at Minges-Overton Baseball Complex. For Tommy Eason, it\u2019s another day at the office, as he prepares for the 2023 season. The former minor leaguer has led the Bulldogs since 2005 \u2013 and it\u2019s… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"article_type":[],"class_list":["post-75","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nTop Dog: Eason Draws Upon Lifetime of Baseball Experiences to Establish Winning Program - Spring 2023, Volume 16 \u2013 Issue 1<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pittcc.mycareerfocus.org\/spring-2023-volume-16-issue-1\/top-dog-eason-draws-upon-lifetime-of-baseball-experiences-to-establish-winning-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top Dog: Eason Draws Upon Lifetime of Baseball Experiences to Establish Winning Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s early February at Pitt Community College, and the unmistakable \u2018ping\u2019 of a composite bat hitting a baseball cuts through the air at Minges-Overton Baseball Complex. 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