Ben Harley enters his first season as Manager for the Battle Jacks for the upcoming 2024 season. Previous to taking the helm for the Battle Jacks he served for two summers as the pitching coach for Kalamazoo Growlers. While with the Growlers he helped guide them to a Northwoods League Championship in 2022 while also setting a franchise win record in 2023.

During the school year Coach Harley is the head coach at Centralia College where he is in his 5th year with the program. In his time at Centralia they have moved 38 players on to 4 year schools and have increased their win total every season. The 2023 spring season saw the program win the most games it has since 1985.

In his off time from baseball Coach Harley enjoys spending time with his wife Haleigh and his two kids Harper and Clayton.

For player personnel inquiries, please email manager@battlejacksbaseball.com.

Evan Bates joins the Battle Jacks coaching staff in 2024 as the Bullpen Coach and Assistant Pitching Coach. From Montesano, Washington, Bates worked as an Assistant Coach for the Port Angeles Lefties last summer, a member of the North Division of the West Coast League, and in fact became the youngest Head Coach in WCL history on July 1, 2023. Bates is finishing his M.S. in Sport & Athletic Administration at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. At CWU, Evan serves as the External Affairs Graduate Assistant in the athletic department.

Prior to his time at Central Washington, Bates played baseball at Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon, where he also attained a B.S. in Sport Management (2022). He played baseball for three years at Linfield, before graduating early. Before transferring to Linfield, Bates played at Centralia College under Battle Jacks Head Coach Ben Harley.

Coach Jacob Schaefer Joins the Battle Jacks coaching staff in 2024. He will coach 1B and work with infielders primarily. Currently he is entering his third season as part of the Centralia College baseball program in Washington State. In his two years coaching at Centralia College he helped the Centralia Blazers to improve defensively from being 22nd out of 26 teams in the NWAC to last season (2022-23) finishing 6th out of 28 teams and a recorded .964 fielding percentage during season play.

Also, in those two years he has helped develop an ABCA Pacific Association All-American Third Team Infielder, 1st Team All NWAC Infielder, two 1st team All Conference Infielders, two 2nd Team All Conference Infielders as well as two Gold Glove West award recipients.

Colton Kelly joins the Battle Jacks coaching staff in 2024 as the hitting coach. He will also coach 3rd base. Kelly currently is the hitting coach for Wenatchee Valley College. Prior to Wenatchee Valley Kelly coached at Skagit Valley College where he helped lead them to the playoffs.

In the summer of 2023 Kelly was the hitting coach for the Wenatchee Applesox of the West Coast League. During his time with the Applesox their offense broke two franchise records (most walks and most home runs in a single game) while also leading the West Coast League in total home runs as a team. Kelly helped guide the team to the 2023 WCL playoffs. 

Prior to beginning his coaching career Kelly spent time playing for Skagit Valley College, Columbia Basin College and finished his playing career at Oklahoma Wesleyan University.