Vasquez named Stingers field manager for 2017

Willmar, Minn. – The Willmar Stingers are excited to announce three new additions to the 2017 coaching staff. Eric Vasquez from Utah Valley University will take over the helm as the new field manager this coming summer, making him the fourth manager in the team’s eight-year history in the Northwoods League. Joining Vasquez will be two new assistant coaches, Bo Henning and Cameron Jergens.

Vasquez is in his second year as an assistant coach with Utah Valley in Orem, UT, where he helped lead the Wolverines to a NCAA Regional appearance last season with an overall record of 37-23. Prior to joining the Utah Valley staff in 2015, Vasquez served as the Director of Baseball Operations for California State-Northridge, along with having prior stops at the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Jacksonville University.

“I had the pleasure of hiring and working with Eric here at Northridge,” Cal-State Northridge Head Coach Greg Moore said. “He was very well respected and the Stingers will have a great guy at the helm for the upcoming season.”

Coach Vasquez is no stranger to summer collegiate baseball, spending two summers as an assistant coach for the Palm Springs Power in the Southern California Collegiate Baseball League during the 2012 and 2013 summers.

As a collegiate player, he played at Fullerton Community College in Fullerton, CA from 1991-1993 as a pitcher and outfielder. Vasquez graduated from California State University-Fullerton and earned his master’s degree from University of Phoenix. Prior to getting into coaching at the collegiate level, Vasquez was also an athletic director and high school coach at a nearby school in California. Eric and his wife Shanna have five children, Karsten, Cooper, Easton, Peyton and Tessa.

“I am excited about this opportunity given to me by the Stingers organization,” Vasquez said. “Getting a chance to coach in a league as great as the Northwoods is something that I’m truly looking forward to. The caliber of the players is unmatched across the country and I look forward to being a part of the Stingers family.”

Joining Vasquez will be Bo Henning, who will lead the pitching staff. Henning is currently an assistant coach for the Sacramento City College Panthers, in Sacramento, CA. He pitched for the Panthers in 2011 and 2012, before returning as a coach in 2016. Henning brings experience as a former player in the Northwoods League. He pitched under the guidance of Andy McKay, now with the Seattle Mariners, during the 2012 summer for the La Crosse Loggers and eventually the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters.

Henning, a highly-recruited athlete out of high school, had to decide whether he would play basketball or baseball. He received a basketball scholarship from California Polytechnic State University where he played for two seasons prior to switching his focus back to baseball. As an aside to coaching, Henning is also the Director of Baseball and a trainer at the Sacramento Sports Center, a family-owned business in Sacramento.

Cameron Jergens rounds out the third new coach hired this week by the Stingers. Jergens is currently in his second season with Coker College in Hartsville, SC where his focus is on hitters and infielders for the Cobras. Jergens, along with the rest of the coaching staff, helped lead the team to their first South Atlantic Conference tournament appearance last season.

Under his guidance, the Cobras led the conference with a team batting average of .319. Before joining the coaching staff at Coker, Jergens was an assistant coach at Daytona State College (2014-15) and served as the head coach in the Lewis and Clark Summer Collegiate League during the 2015 and 2016 seasons, winning the league championship this past summer.

The Stingers will also visit with former assistant coaches Rob Swendra and Terry Steinbach in the upcoming weeks on returning in some type of role next summer with the club.

The Stingers will begin to announce returning players and new additions in the upcoming weeks as well. For information on group and season tickets, or more information regarding this press release please contact the Willmar Stingers front office at 320-222-2010 or visit www.willmarstingers.com.

The 2017 season of Stingers Baseball is presented by Marcus Construction. “From start to finish we’ll make your job easier and build a facility you will be proud of.”

The Willmar Stingers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 160 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.willmarstingers.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Stingers as your favorite team.