Schmidt recognized as ABCA/Baseball America Assistant of the Year

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- During the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Convention, longtime Bellevue University associate head baseball coach Mitch Schmidt was recognized as the ABCA/Baseball America Assistant Coach of the Year in the NAIA Division.

Schmidt, the longest-tenured coach on the Bruin baseball staff, is in his 14^th season at BU and helped guide the 2019 Bruins (48-16) to the program's 14^th appearance in the Avista NAIA World Series.

During the 13 previous seasons of his tenure on staff, Schmidt has helped guide the Bruins to 10 40-win seasons, including three 50-win campaigns (2008, 2016, 2017),

Schmidt has helped the Bruins qualify for 12 National Tournaments and four Avista NAIA World Series Appearances, in addition to claiming seven conference regular season championships, and eight conference tournament crowns.

Spending a lot of time working with the hitters, Schmidt oversaw an offense that ranked in the top 10 in nine major categories. Bellevue ranked second in both runs scored (565) and RBI (511), third in batting average (.343) and hits (718). The club also ranked fourth in doubles (142), hits per game (11.22), and RBI per game (7.98) in addition to ranking sixth in runs scored per game (8.83) and slugging percentage (.533)

During the offseason, Schmidt manages the Okotoks Dawgs of the Western Canadian Baseball League, a position he has held since 2018. After guiding the Dawgs to a playoff appearance in his first season at the helm, Schmidt led Okotoks to WCBL Western Division and Playoff Titles and to a sweep of the Regina Red Sox in the WCBL Championship Series.

Bellevue kicks off their 2020 campaign with three games in Oklahoma City, Okla. on Feb. 8-9. The Bruins open the year against #10 Oklahoma City (Feb. 8, 10 a.m.) before taking on #20 Central Methodist (Feb. 8, 1 p.m.). and return the next day (Feb. 9) with another tilt against OCU at 10 a.m.