2023 Summer Prospect Camp 1
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At Duke (2013-Present): Chris Pollard became Duke University’s 25th head baseball coach in June of 2012, taking over the reins of the Blue Devil program after successful stints at Pfeiffer University and Appalachian State University.
Pollard led the Blue Devils to a magical postseason run in the NCAA Tournament in 2019, culminating in the program’s second straight and second NCAA Super Regional appearance. The NCAA Tournament selection marked the second consecutive appearance for the Blue Devils and the third in the last four seasons.
The Duke baseball program concluded the 2019 campaign as a consensus top-20 team for the second consecutive season. The Blue Devils received rankings as high as 16th in the national polls, while being recognized as a top-20 team amongst five different publications. Duke wrapped up the campaign as a consensus top-20 team for the second straight year: Baseball America (No. 18), Collegiate Baseball (No. 16), D1Baseball (No. 16), NCBWA (No. 17) and Perfect Game (No. 18).
Duke’s 35 wins in 2019 marked Pollard’s sixth consecutive season with 30-plus wins, making the Blue Devil skipper the first head coach to lead Duke to six 30-win seasons in his first seven campaigns.
Under Pollard’s guidance, Duke put together a historic 2018 campaign. Ranked in the preseason for the first time in program history, the 2018 Blue Devils lived up to the early season hype, recording the first 40-win season in program history while also earning a program-record 18 ACC wins and advancing to the first NCAA Super Regional in school history.
Baseball America ranked Duke in its top 25 for 13 weeks during the regular season, more than doubling the total number of weeks the Blue Devils were ranked in the first 36 years of the publication’s rankings (6). With a 45-18 overall record, Duke not only set a program record for wins in a season but also reached 30 wins for the fifth straight year, the program’s longest such stretch since the Blue Devils compiled a run of seven-straight 30-win campaigns from 1992-98.
Just two years earlier, Pollard led Duke to an at-large bid to the 2016 NCAA Tournament, ending the program’s 55-year drought without making the postseason event. After beginning the season 10-13 (1-7 ACC), the Blue Devils went 23-9 over their final 32 regular season games, including a 13-8 ACC record. During that span, Duke went 9-7 against Top 20 RPI teams, collected series victories over Georgia Tech, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Florida State and Pitt, and posted a perfect 10-0 mark in non-conference play.
The first head coach to lead Duke to the NCAA Tournament since the Kennedy administration, Pollard is also the fastest Blue Devil head coach to reach 100 wins in Durham. In over 110 seasons prior to his arrival, Duke totaled 10, 30-win seasons. Since taking over the program, Pollard has guided the Blue Devils to five seasons of 30 or more wins.
In just his second season in Durham, Pollard led the 2014 Blue Devils to the ACC Tournament for the first time since 2009 as Duke finished fourth overall in the league standings. Duke’s 16 ACC wins in 2014 tied the program record while the Blue Devils finished in the top four in the conference standings for the first time since 1994. The Blue Devils cemented their status as one of the top teams in the North Carolina, finishing the season 8-1 against in-state ACC rivals North Carolina, NC State and Wake Forest. In addition, the Blue Devils entered the national rankings, earning the No. 30 spot in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper national poll May 6. The 2014 Blue Devils earned a spot in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s rankings for the first time since the organization began its poll in 1998.
Pollard began the task of revitalizing the program and his effect was felt immediately as the 2013 Blue Devils eclipsed their win total from the previous season, securing 26 victories for their first-year head coach. Duke’s 26 victories during Pollard’s inaugural campaign marked the most by a Blue Devil head coach in his first season in school history.
Pollard and his staff have excelled at bringing top talent to Durham. During Pollard’s tenure, 30 Blue Devils have been selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, including a school-record-tying seven in 2018. Of those 30 players, eight were selected in the first 10 rounds of the draft, accouting for a fifth of Duke’s total top-10-round picks in program history.
At Appalachian State (2005-12): Prior to accepting the head coaching position at Duke, Pollard successfully transformed an Appalachian State program saddled with back-to-back 10-win seasons into a team on the verge of the College World Series.
Pollard garnered 2012 Southern Conference Coach of the Year honors after leading Appalachian State to its most accomplished season in the program’s 109-year history as the Mountaineers set a school record for victories with a 41-18 overall record in addition to winning the Southern Conference championship with a 21-9 league mark. Appalachian State earned a berth to the 2012 NCAA Championship and advanced to the championship round of the Charlottesville Regional with victories over national powers Virginia and Oklahoma.
In addition, the 2012 Mountaineers won their first conference championship since 1987, advanced to NCAA postseason play for the first time since 1986 and won their first NCAA Tournament game since 1973. Appalachian State also claimed four wins over nationally-ranked opponents and spent six weeks in the national rankings. Prior to the record-breaking 2012 campaign, the Mountaineers boasted just one win over a nationally-ranked team since 1982 and one appearance in a major college baseball poll.
Pollard took the helm of the Mountaineer program in 2004 and guided ASU to 24 wins, four more than the previous two seasons combined, in his second season with the program. Six consecutive 30-win seasons would follow as the Mountaineers won at least one Southern Conference Tournament game every season and finished among the top 50 teams in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) rankings twice during that span.
Pollard’s tenure at Appalachian State was punctuated by his ability to recruit top-notch talent. After Appalachian State went without a Major League Baseball draftee for a dozen years, three members of Pollard’s initial ASU recruiting class were selected in the first 12 rounds of the 2008 MLB Draft. In total, Appalachian State produced 13 MLB draftees under Pollard’s watch, including a school-record four in both 2008 and 2012.
At Pfeiffer University (2000-04): Prior to his arrival at Appalachian, Pollard served as the head coach at Pfeiffer University from 2000-04. In his final year at Pfeiffer, he coached the Falcons to the winningest season in school history, a 41-14 campaign that culminated with Pfeiffer’s second straight Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference regular season championship and a berth in the 2004 NCAA Division II South Atlantic Regional. In addition, Pfeiffer reached as high as No. 2 in the South Atlantic Regional rankings and No. 9 in the national polls according to Collegiate Baseball newspaper. Pollard was named the 2004 CVAC Coach of the Year both by the league’s coaches and the American Baseball Coaches Association for his efforts.
The 2004 Falcons’ baseball team was inducted into the Pfeiffer Sports Hall of Fame Sept. 23, 2017.
Similar to his time at Appalachian State, Pollard took over a Pfeiffer squad which had suffered three losing seasons in the four years prior to his arrival and began a rebuilding project that led to the Falcons’ record improving in each of his five seasons as head coach. In addition, he also served as Pfeiffer’s director of athletics for the 2003-04 year, overseeing the daily supervision of the school’s 16 varsity sports, including NCAA compliance, budget and salary management, public relations, fundraising and facility oversight.
At Davidson: Before his stint at Pfeiffer, Pollard served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Davidson College. His primary responsibilities for the Wildcat staff included serving as the team’s pitching coach and recruiting coordinator.
Pollard also gained coaching experience in the NCAA-certified Coastal Plain Summer League as the head coach of the Durham Braves in 1998 and pitching coach with the Rocky Mount Rock Fish in 1997.
As a player at Davidson from 1993-96, Pollard became just the third pitcher in program history to win 20 games for a career. He ranks among the top 10 in Davidson history with 20 wins (3rd), 168 strikeouts (8th), 59 appearances (t-7th), 309 innings pitched (4th), 39 starts (6th) 18 complete games (t-7th) and two shutouts (t-3rd). As a sophomore, Pollard defeated both No. 1 Georgia Tech and No. 25 Western Carolina before tying an NCAA record by earning victories in both ends of a doubleheader versus Georgia Southern as a junior.
Personal: Pollard graduated from Davidson in 1996, earning a B.A. in psychology with a concentration in child and adolescent development. He played professionally in both the Western League and the Northern League before returning to Davidson to begin his coaching career.
Pollard also received a Master’s degree in physical education/health education from Mississippi State in 2004.
His wife, Stephanie, is a 1997 Davidson graduate. The couple resides in Durham with their two sons: Thomas and Brady.
Duke baseball head coach Chris Pollard announced in July 2022 the hiring of Ty Blankmeyer as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Blankmeyer came to Durham after one year on the staff at Wake Forest.
The product of a baseball family, Blankmeyer was a four-year standout at St. John’s, was drafted, played professionally, and began his post-playing career in player development with the Cincinnati Reds and later as an area scout with the Milwaukee Brewers from 2017-21.
Blankmeyer was a middle infielder at St. John’s from 2012-16, where he helped lead the program to the Big East regular-season and tournament titles in 2015 under his father, Ed – the winningest coach in St. John’s history with 829 victories. Ed now manages the Brooklyn Cyclones in the New York-Penn League. Ty’s grandfather, Mike Sheppard Sr., was a legendary baseball coach at Seton Hall, winning 998 games, making 10 NCAA Tournament appearances and two College World Series runs.
In his one year on the staff at Wake Forest as the volunteer assistant coach, Blankmeyer was instrumental in the team’s base running and fielding improvements. Wake finished sixth in the ACC with a .973 fielding percentage, eight spots higher than the Demon Deacons’ finish the year prior.
The 2022 season saw Wake Forest win 41 games — the fifth most in program history – and increase its win total by 21 games (41 wins to 20 wins), the largest year-to-year turnaround in program history. The season culminated with the program’s 14th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Blankmeyer was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2016 MLB Draft and hit .280 in the Pioneer League before stepping into a player development role with the franchise at the Arizona Complex League (AZL), working alongside Jose Nieves and Barry Larkin. From there, he moved to the Milwaukee Brewers where he managed all scouting responsibilities in the Northeast region for five seasons. In 2021, Blankmeyer signed the Brewers’ No. 1 pick, Sal Frelick, who starred at Boston College.
The native of Morristown, N.J., received a degree in Communications from St. John’s in 2016.
Duke baseball head coach Chris Pollard announced in July 2022 the addition of Brady Kirkpatrick to the staff as pitching coach. Kirkpatrick joined the Blue Devils from Florida Atlantic where he served in a similar capacity.
Kirkpatrick helped FAU to a 35-22 mark in 2022 behind starters Tyler Burnham and Hunter Cooley who combined for a 15-5 record on the mound. Cooley, the workhouse for the Owls, made 15 starts, tossed two complete games and logged 104 innings with 79 strikeouts against just 17 walks on his was to second-team All-Conference USA honors.
Prior to his one year at Florida Atlanta, Kirkpatrick spent the previous three at Harvard, where he helped lead the team to the 2019 Ivy League Championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance — each the program’s first since 2005. The Crimson’s 27 wins that year were also the most since 2005.
Prior to Harvard, he coached for two seasons at Monmouth, which included the 2018 MAAC regular-season title – the same year the Hawks set the program’s single-season strikeout record. His resume also includes a stop at Rochester University as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in 2016.
No stranger to the ACC, Kirkpatrick pitched three years at Maryland and his final college season at San Diego. In 2014, he was part of the Terrapins’ first Super Regional team. He began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at USD as he earned his master’s degree un global business leadership in 2015.
The Eugene, Oregon native earned his undergraduate degree in criminology and criminal justice from Maryland. As a Terp, he earned the Scholar Athlete Award for consecutive seasons, and he was a SAAC representative at both UMD and USD, as well as for the West Coast Conference while at San Diego.
Eric Tyler joins the Blue Devils after working with Baseball Rebellion as a hitting instructor.
“We are thrilled to welcome Eric Tyler to the coaching staff,” Pollard said. “He has a proven track record of developing hitters. Eric’s time as a standout player and assistant coach in one of the top programs in the country at East Carolina will undoubtedly bring a championship perspective to the Duke baseball staff. He has played and worked for one of the very best in the college baseball in Cliff Godwin. We are excited to start workouts next week.”
Tyler spent the last four years with Baseball Rebellion working as a hitting instructor as well as the Chief Operating Officer and Director of Teams.
“I am extremely grateful and humbled to be a part of this great program and the Duke family,” Tyler said. “I look forward to working daily to ensure that the standard set by Coach Pollard and members of the program before me continues to be met.”
During his time, he worked with former Duke players such as: Joey Loperfido, Mike Rothenberg and Wil Hoyle amongst others.
“Having worked with Eric, I have seen first-hand not only his extensive knowledge of hitting, but his amazing ability to connect with players and teach,” Loperfido said. “I am very excited for Eric, but even more excited for Duke baseball because the program just got even better.”
A First Team All-AAC recipient in 2017, Tyler was the Pirates team captain during the 2016-17 season. Following his graduation from ECU, he joined the Pirates coaching staff under Cliff Godwin. A graduate of East Carolina University, Tyler started at third base for the Pirates from 2015-17. During his time in Greenville, the Landis, N.C. native compiled a .296 average in 219 career games. He drove in 107 RBI, 43 doubles, walked 72 times, stole 16 bases and gathered 57 extra base hits, including 14 home runs.
In his junior season with the Pirates, Tyler was named to the Charlottesville All-Regional team after batting .545 with a home run and two RBI. A four-time American Athletic Conference Honor Roll selection, he set the ECU and AAC single-game record with eight RBI against Jacksonville.
He received a degree in Recreation and Parks Management with a minor in Business Administration from East Carolina in 2017.
Entering his second year with the Duke baseball program, Daniel Jung joined the staff in January of 2022 and serves as the program’s director of baseball operations.
Since arriving in Durham, Jung assists with coordinating all on-campus recruiting visits, serves as the Duke Baseball Camp Director, and manages all day-to-day responsibilities of the baseball program. Jung handles all team travel, meals, and helps the daily operation of all baseball technology that the program uses, including Trackman, Synergy, and TruMedia.
The 2023 season will mark the Jung’s second season in the Bull City, serving as the direct connection to many external departments on campus, inclusive of communications/social media, marketing, BDN (Blue Devil Network), gameday operations, equipment, and facilities. Jung also oversees the student manager group, developing three core groups to assist the program on a daily basis: Data Analytics, On-Field/Video, and Baseball Operations.
The Notre Dame graduate has taken on the Nike Team Apparel and Rawlings Baseball Equipment orders, while also serving as the team’s Community Service Coordinator. Service initiatives have included events with the Durham Rescue Mission, Duke Children’s Hospital, and Miracle League of the Triangle.
Prior to joining the Duke staff, Jung served as the Volunteer Assistant Coach at Northern Illinois in the fall of 2021. During that time, he was responsible for the outfielders and assisted with hitters. He also served as the camp director, assisted with all field maintenance, coordinated the setup and use of Rapsodo, and oversaw all student managers.
Jung is no stranger to the ACC having played five seasons at Notre Dame (2017-21). He played in 176 games with a .254 career batting average, 143 hits, 12 home runs and 75 RBIs. In his graduate season of 2021, the Fighting Irish won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title and reached the NCAA Super Regionals. As a junior in 2019, Jung started 53 games at first base and set career highs with 59 hits, five home runs, and 40 runs batted in.
Jung was also honored by the league in 2020 as he was awarded the ACC Top-6 for Service Award. He was also tabbed the Francis Patrick O’Connor Award (2020) and the Community Champion Award (2019) by Notre Dame for his community service efforts.
Jung graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in management consulting and a master’s degree in business analytics in 2021.
Jung is originally from La Mirada, California. He currently resides in Durham.
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