Marlin Ikenberry, Head Baseball Coach
Head baseball coach Marlin Ikenberry, the winningest coach in VMI history, completed a decade at the Institute with the conclusion of the 2013 season.
It was a historic season, as outfielder Rob Dickinson chased .400 throughout the spring before coming up just one hit shy and going on to become VMI's first conference player of the year in baseball. Ikenberry protege Matt Winn also had a banner year, becoming one of the top defensive catchers in the region, earning Second Team All-Big South honors and becoming Dickinson's protection in the lineup for the final two months of the season.
In 2012, the highlights of the year included a season-ending win over VCU at the Diamond, as well as outfielder Jacob Morley earning Second Team All-Big South laurels and Coby Cowgill and Adam Lopez being selected in June's MLB draft. It was the seventh straight year VMI had at least one player chosen in the 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.
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.
