Marlin Ikenberry, Head Baseball Coach
Head baseball coach Marlin Ikenberry, VMI's first coach in any sport to win 200 games, completed his ninth year at the Institute in 2012. The season saw the young Keydets (12 freshmen) end the season well, beating VCU at the Diamond, while outfielder Jacob Morley earned Second Team All-Big South honors and Coby Cowgill and Adam Lopez went on to be selected in June's MLB draft.
In 2011, Ikenberry won his 200th career game on March 5 against Bucknell, and closed the season with 221 career victories. That total is the fifth-most in Big South history, and makes him the winningest coach not only in VMI baseball annals, but in the history of the Institute. VMI would go on to post a winning season for the fifth time in seven years, expanding the best run in program history. Two of those wins broke long skids, as VMI defeated William & Mary in Williamsburg for the first time since 1996, and also beat James Madison in Harrisonburg for the first time since the 1976 campaign.
The Keydets also hosted the first postseason baseball games in Institute history, welcoming the 2011 Big South Baseball Championship to Gray-Minor Stadium. Finally, the team beat a ranked opponent (JMU) for the sixth time in the last eight seasons, and won the Big South Sportsmanship Award for the sixth straight year.
The historic season saw Sam Roberts be named a semifinalist for the Brooks Wallace Award, given to the nation's top shortstop, as he completed a year that saw him finish in VMI's career top-10 in 12 different categories. That included finishing first in hits, walks and runs scored, and his strong 2011 campaign saw Roberts be one of two Keydets named First Team All-Big South, joining catcher Alex Haitsuka. That marked the first time since 2005 that VMI had posted multiple players on the Big South's First Team. Roberts went on to be taken in the 26th round of the MLB draft by Oakland.
Ikenberry became the Institute's head baseball coach on July 22, 2003, after former head coach (current Yankee minor league hitting coordinator) Tom Slater departed VMI to accept a coaching position at the Univ. of Florida. Ikenberry had been Slater's recruiting coordinator and top assistant for three years prior to the promotion, and saw immediate results.
After winning 23 games in his first year and 27 contests in his second season, historic ground was broken in 2006, when the Keydets won 30 games for the first time in program history, while also marking the first time in 41 years that the program posted a winning record. That success continued in 2007, as Ikenberry guided his squad to a 34-21 record, knocking off a pair teams ranked in the top 10 nationally for the first time in program history. VMI Baseball earned its first-ever national ranking, being tabbed 30th in the country by Collegiate Baseball in back-to-back weeks while also receiving votes in the Writers' Poll.
