2010 Baseball
TransouthPct.OverallPctStreakHomeAwayNeutral
3-18.1439-40.184Lost 97-142-250-1
Coaches
Shawn Yarbrough Image
Shawn Yarbrough
Head Coach- 2nd Season
 
    Shawn Yarbrough became MCU's baseball coach on August 15, 2008, replacing William Russell, who served as MCU's head baseball coach for four seasons from 2005-08.  Yarbrough and his wife, Tara, are residents of Paducah, Kentucky, and are awaiting the birth of their first child in February, 2010.  Shawn is a graduate of Lone Oak High School.
 
     In the 2009 season, his first as a collegiate head coach, Yarbrough guided MCU to a 17-41 record with a 4-17 TSAC mark.  MCU won seven more games overall and four more TSAC games under Yarbrough in 2009 than it did the previous season.  MCU also placed second in the NCCAA Mideast Regional, losing to eventual NCCAA Division I national champion Bluefield College in the final best-of-three series.
 
     Yarbrough is no stranger to teaching the fundamentals of baseball and played four seasons of collegiate baseball.  Most recently, in 2008, Yarbrough served as hitting coach and first baseball coach of the American Legion Paducah Post 31 baseball club. He also has been a substitute teacher for the McCracken County School District since 2005.
 
     Since 2007, he has owned and served as hitting instructor for Diamond Academy in Paducah, offering students from ages 8-22 private instruction in all facets of baseball and softball and core agility strengthening and vision training. Since 2005, Diamond Academy also has conducted college preparatory fall league, consisting of 56 juniors and seniors from the western Kentucky, southern Illinois, and western Tennessee regions.  Yarbrough has coached more than 20 student-athletes from western Kentucky who have signed college baseball scholarships in the past three seasons.
 
     Yarbrough also travels as a recommending scout for the Cincinnati Reds baseball club, evaluating players' capabilities and skills in the surrounding area and from 1999-2007, Yarbrough served as Assistant Store Manager for Foot Locker/Champs in Paducah, specializing in team fittings and team orders for footwear, bats, uniforms, bags, and team gear.
 
     A graduate of McNeese State University in Louisiana, Yarbrough earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mass communications in 2004, and played NCAA Division I baseball his senior season after transferring from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, where he participated in the NCAA Championships as a junior in 2003.
 
     Yarbrough's collegiate career began at John A. Logan Community College in Illinois, where Yarbrough set a single-season record with 18 home runs and earned preseason NJCAA All-America honors from Baseball America. Yarbrough led Logan CC to back-to-back conference titles and the 2002 NJCAA World Series.  He also earned his Associate of Arts degree in 2002.
 
     After graduation from Logan CC and prior to transferring to OIe Miss, he played for the Sanford Mariners in the New England Collegiate League, and the following summer, played for the Fayetteville Swamp Dogs in the Coastal Plains Collegiate League.  After graduation from McNeese State, Yarbrough played independent professional baseball for two seasons with the Fort Worth Cats, managed by former Cincinnati Reds player Wayne Terwilliger and operated by former Lost Angeles Dodger shortstop Maury Wills.  He also served as an intern in the public relations department of the Southwest Louisiana Swashbucklers of the National Indoor Football League (NIFL).
 
     Yarbrough earned All-Region selection three consecutive seasons in high school and was selected to the Kentucky high school All-Star game in 2000. He played for American Legion Post 31 Chief Paduke in Paducah in the summer of 2000, and led the team to a national runner-up finish in the American Legion World Series in Alton, Illinois.  In 1999, he traveled with the Roberto Clemente All-Stars of New York to play for a week against Puerto Rican All-Star competition and also attended the Team One Professional Showcase at the University of Notre Dame. As a sophomore in 1998, he was selected to play at the Walt Disney World Wild World of Sports Showcase.
 
 
Tyler Owen Image
Tyler Owen
Assistant Coach- 1st Season
 
     Tyler Owen begins his first season as a volunteer assistant baseball coach for Mid-Continent University. Owen is a former baseball teammate of MCU pitching coach Tyler Pittman, who played for Murray State from 2004-07.
 
     From Evansville, Indiana, Owen is completing his Bachelor's degree in advertising with an athletics coaching minor at Murray State. He is the son of Steve Owen and Diane Hartman and has one sister and two brothers.
 
     Tyler played baseball, basketball, and football for Memorial High School for two seasons before transferring to North High School where he played baseball and basketball for two seasons. As a senior in 2005, Owen helped North HS baseball win semi-state, regional and sectional championships and a second-place finish in the Indiana State Tournament. Owen was named All-City and All-Southern Indiana Athletics Conference as a junior and senior, and also proved to be an excellent student, winning Academic All-City honors both years.
 
     Owen earned All-Ohio Valley Conference second team honors at third base as a sophomore and junior in 2007 and 2008, and won All-OVC Freshman team honors in 2006. He was Murray State's starting third baseman for four seasons and ranks second in career at-bats (701), tied for fourth with 42 doubles and 10 triples, sixth with 204 hits and 299 total bases, and seventh with 197 games played. Owen compiled a .291 career average with 98 runs scored and 112 RBI.
 
     As a senior at Murray State in 2009, Owen hit .273 (51-187) with 11 doubles, 4 home runs, 28 runs scored and 24 RBI and committed just six errors in 137 chances at third base (.956). As a junior in 2008, Owen made the All-OVC second team, hitting .293 (48-164) with 7 doubles, one triple, 24 runs scored and 23 RBI, and put together a 10-game hitting streak in late April.
 
     Also an All-OVC selection as a sophomore in 2007, Owen hit .353 (59-167) and ranked second in the OVC in hitting. He hit 8 doubles and 6 home runs, scored 23 runs and drove in 41. Owen had 13 multiple-hit games, eight in conference play, and an 11-game hitting streak.
 
     As a freshman third baseman, Owen made in immediate impact, earning All-OVC freshman team selection with a .251 average (46-183), 16 doubles, 2 home runs, 23 runs scored and 24 RBI, and committed just 10 errors in 139 chances in 54 games.
 
 
Tyler Pittman Image
Tyler Pittman
Assistant Coach- 2nd Season
 
     Tyler Pittman begins his second season as Mid-Continent's pitching coach, recruiting coordinator, and camp coordinator. Besides his duties at MCU, Pittman works full-time as a financial advisor for Woodmen of the World and served as assistant coach for Paducah American Legion Post 31 in 2007 and 2008. Pittman and his wife, Ashley, live in Ballard County, Kentucky, and are expecting their first child in November, 2009.
 
     Following an outstanding high school career at Ballard Memorial High School (Ky.) from 1998-2002, Pittman first attended the University of Kentucky in 2002-03 before transferring to Murray State University (Ky.) where he played baseball from 2004-07. Pittman earned All-Ohio Valley Conference first team selection in 2006 and 2007, and still reigns as Murray State's career leader in hits (228) and doubles (55) and ranks third with 362 career total bases, fourth with 141 runs scored and 148 RBI, and 11th with 21 career home runs.
 
     As a junior in 2006, Pittman hit .267 (55-206) with a school-record 21 doubles, one triple, 2 home runs, 32 runs scored and 35 RBI, and as a senior in 2007, he hit .308 (61-198) with 16 doubles, 2 triples, 5 home runs, 40 runs scored and 38 RBI. He hit 8 home runs and 3 triples as a freshman in 2004, and 6 home runs and 2 triples as a sophomore in 2005.
 
 
Matt Smith Image
Matt Smith
Assistant Coach- 2nd Season
 
     Matt Smith joined the Mid-Continent University athletics staff prior to the 2009 baseball season\ and serves in a dual role as strength and conditioning coach for the six intercollegiate sports in which Mid-Continent competes as well as assistant baseball coach with head coach Shawn Yarbrough.  Smith works especially with the defense and coaches first base during games while Tyler Pittman serves as recruiting coordinator and pitching coach and Tyler Owen gives his time as a volunteer assistant coach.
 
     The connection between Smith and Yarbrough dates back to when Smith served as head baseball coach at Community Christian Academy (Ky.) from 2005-2008.  Smith brought Yarbrough, the owner and hitting instructor of Diamond Baseball Academy, to the CCA campus to instruct his baseball team in the science of hitting several times, and the two men forged a coaching relationship and a friendship.
 
     Smith comments, "When I left CCA, I prayed first that I would have opportunities to share the Gospel.  The Mid-Continent position is an answer to those prayers." Smith discovered that he and Yarbrough shared a similar coaching philosophy, "Faith first, then baseball," and his decision became more clear.
 
     Smith, a 1986 graduate of Bradley Central High School in Cleveland, Tennessee, and a 1992 graduate of Shorter College in Rome, Georgia, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology.  He played four years of college baseball, patrolling centerfield for Cleveland State Community College (Tenn.) in 1987, Chattanooga State Tech Community College (Tenn.) in 1989, and Shorter College in 1990 and 1991.  His combined batting average for the four seasons was a crisp .356.
 
     Smith helped Cleveland State CC and Chattanooga Tech CC to conference championships, and he earned All-Conference honors as a sophomore. As a junior at Shorter, Smith led his team to a second-place finish in conference, and as a senior, he was instrumental in leading Shorter to the conference title.
 
     He later served as head baseball coach at Christian Fellowship High School in Marshall County (Ky.) from 1998-2002, and was head baseball coach at CCA from 2005-2008. Smith also has been self-employed since 2002, refurbishing and repairing plastic shipping containers for the automotive industry.
 
     Smith, and his wife, Michele, and their three children, Kyle, Isabela, and Gabriele, attend the Pathway Baptist Church in Calvert City, Kentucky.