Coach Schmidt begins his second year as pitching coach for the Flames.
During his college career at Drury University (2019), he made 12 appearances and threw 56 innings for the Panthers going 3-4 and earning wins over Lewis, Maryville, and William Jewell. He posted a season-high 11 strikeouts in back-to-back outings at St. Edward’s and vs. Lewis which also tied the school record. He joins Will Landsheft as the only Drury pitcher to ever reach eleven strikeouts in a game twice. His 59 Ks were second most among Drury pitchers for the 2019 season. Schmidt threw a season-high eight innings in games at St. Edward’s and vs. William Jewell. Held batters to a .241 batting average, fourth best on the team and his 3.86 ERA was also fourth best on the team.
During his high school career Schmidt was named Ozark Conference Pitcher of the Year as a junior and senior at Kickapoo High Springfield, Missouri, he earned First Team All-District honors twice, Second Team Class 5 All-State honors as a junior and was named MVP of the Ozark Conference as a senior as well as First Team All-State and the SW Missouri Baseball Athlete of the Year.
Schmidt played three seasons of professional baseball in the Independent Leagues, including a season in Ottawa, Ontario before beginning his coaching career at Lee.
Said Lee Head Coach Mark Brew, “Coach Schmidt had to hit the ground running on his arrival in September of last year. He did an excellent job impacting the pitching staff in a short time to help us make a deep regional run.
“With a full year under his belt, I am excited to see how he manages the staff going into the 24-25 season. He has tremendous technical knowledge and that will hopefully translate to a huge year for some of our guys as we add more development tools into the program.”
