ST. GEORGE – On the heels of the program’s first NCAA West Regional appearance, the Dixie State College baseball team will see new leadership in the dugout for the 2013 season. On Saturday, DSC Athletic Director Jason Boothe named Chris Pfatenhauer as Head BaseballCoach.
“The committee and myself were totally flattered by the level of interest in this job and the exceptional qualifications presented by all applicants,” stated Boothe. “Chris, however, stood out among the best and we are very excited to have him join the Red Storm family. He brings a great mixture of experience from all levels of intercollegiate baseball including intricate experience recruiting in the West region. We expect the team to not miss a beat under Pfatenhauer’s leadership and continue its march towards a College World Series appearance and an eventual National Championship. Dixie State Baseball will continue to be known for producing highly competitive teams on a national level with student-athletes that the southern Utah community will be proud to support.”
The Las Vegas native and, most recently, assistant coach at the University of Nevada, Reno, assumes the vacancy left by Mike Littlewood upon his departure to coach at Brigham Young University.
Pfatenhauer said: “I would like to thank Jason Boothe and his entire staff for the opportunity to lead the Dixie State College Baseball program. I am grateful for and I would also like to thank President Nadauld and Vice-President Stan Plewe for their commitment to athletics and the development of our student-athletes. The search process was a very positive experience and truly shows the commitment and the schools passion for the student-athlete experience and to compete at the highest level nationally.”
Pfatenhauer brings an extensive background in various levels of baseball, as well as teaching. For the last three years, he has worked as the first assistant for the Wolfpack under longtime head coach Gary Powers. His duties included base coaching, working primarily with the infielders, and serving as the program’s recruiting coordinator. In addition, Pfatenhauer worked as an adjunct professor and liaison for the UNR School of Medicine and Sports Medicine program.
The coach brings knowledge of the Division-II ranks after spending two years at Chico State (Calif.) where he worked with the Wildcat hitters, infielders and taught base running. In addition, he was the recruiting coordinator and assisted in all aspects of the baseball program.During his tenure the team posted a 77-38 record and were ranked as high assecond nationally. Defensively the `Cats finished in the top 15 both years and the 2009 club ranked first in 15 offensive categories. Each of the last two seasons a Wildcat infielder was named to the National Rawlings Gold Glove team.
Prior to his time at Chico State, Pfatenhauer spent three seasons at the College of the Ozarks (Missouri), the last two as the head coach. In three years, the Bobcats posted a record of 88-74. The 2005 team made the school’s first playoff appearances in 20 years and the 2006 club reached a national ranking of 17th, the highest in the program’s history.
From 2001-04, he was the head baseball coach and taught physical education at Faith Lutheran High School in Las Vegas were he led the Crusaders to a 97-23 record. He coached the squad to a pair of state titles and three Southern Nevada Championships while sending 12 players to play collegiate baseball. In 2003 and 2004, he was named AA State Baseball Coach of the Year and garnered AA Southern Nevada Coach of the Year honors three times. During this time, Pfatenhauer also coached the Las Vegas Metro Stars, a scout team for the best players in Sin City. One player during Pfatenhauer’s tenure for the Metro Stars was Aaron Friend, who played for Dixie State College from 2008-2010.
In the summer of 1998, Pfatenhauer started the baseball program at the College of Southern Nevada as a club team. He led the efforts to raise the entire operation budget to field a competitive baseball team. He has also spent time as an assistant coach at Treasure Valley Community College (Ore.) and at Glendale Community College (Calif.). In thesummers of 1993 through 1995, he was an assistant coach with the Durango (Nev.) American Legion program. While living in Las Vegas from 1998-2004, he was an instructor at the Las Vegas Baseball Academy.
Pfatenhauer concluded, “My family and I are very excited to be a part of the St. George community and the Dixie State College family.”
In 2000 he received a bachelor’s degree in physical education from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and earned a master’s degree in education from Southwest Baptist (Mo.) in 2007. He is married to the former Ashley Miller of Seymour, Mo. The couple has two daughters Cadence and Colbie and a daughter Dylan Jessica is a sophomore atTaft College where she plays volleyball.