Meet LBCC Baseball Coach Andy Peterson

Meet LBCC Baseball Coach Andy Peterson

Next to Andy Peterson’s desk in his LBCC baseball office sits the 2022 NWAC championship bracket board, when they won it all, to remind his players of what all their hard work is for.

Coach Peterson came to LBCC in 2017 as an assistant baseball coach. He became the head coach after the 2018 season, when then head coach Ryan Gipson was hired as an assistant for the Oregon State baseball team. Peterson led the Roadrunners to the NWAC championship in 2022.

 They came up short in the 2023 tournament, winning the first game but losing the next two games and were eliminated.

Looking to return to championship form, Peterson said, “This year’s LBCC team is strong at every position and has great chemistry.” 

Sophomore right-fielder Jordan Hockett agreed with his coach: “The team is solid all around, we’re deep at all positions”

Sophomore closer Brodrick Stanaway added. “The pitching staff is deep and solid.”

“They have been kicking our buts in practice,” said Hockett. 

The Roadrunners have “unfinished business,” Peterson likes to tell his players and others.  

“I feel this team has all the tools to win it all this year,” Peterson said. “The second-year players make my job easier by taking the first-year players under their wing. When they see a mistake, they correct them so I don't have to. I would like to make them run but they have not given me a reason to.” 

“The first time I met PeeDee (Peterson’s nickname), he came to one of my tournaments in Medford,” said Hockett. “I was hit in the face by a 92-mph fastball, my first at-bat that he ever saw me have. Then after the game I talked to him for a little bit but then I didn’t talk to him for a year and half until he called me up and said he would like me to come and play for us. 

“I had a good conversation, I thought he was a good guy. They won the NWAC that year that I came on my visit. I thought that was pretty cool. They hadn’t won it since 1991. Andy told me that ‘I wouldn’t recruit anyone that I think wouldn’t get along with the team, that I wouldn’t get along with.’”

Hockett said, “The pitching staff is pretty solid this year, a lot better than last year. I think that was a weak point on our team last year.”

You can tell they all get along. Hockett said, “This year, more than last year, we have guys who really care about the team.”

Peterson added, “I am happy with how they are getting up early for weight training, practicing hard while carrying a 3.4 GPA overall as a team.”

You can hear the love he has for coaching this group of players in his voice. 

Likewise, Athletic Director Mark Majeski said the players love to play for Coach Peterson, who he described as an excellent recruiter. He finds players that are academically sound, have strong character and work ethic, and are excellent ballplayers.

The team is deep with talent at all positions, Peterson said. They know they can count on each other to make plays or battle at the plate, and continue the winning tradition that Peterson has helped build in the seven years he has been coaching at LBCC.  

When Peterson isn’t coaching at LBCC, he doesn’t stray very far from the game. 

“During the summer I am an assistant coach for a wood bat baseball league team, the Okotok Dawgs, in (Alberta) Canada, where we draw over 6,500 fans every game. We are ranked the number-one wood bat baseball league team for producing professional and college baseball prospects in North America.” 

One of Peterson’s other passions is hockey. “I can say that I've been to every NHL arena.” 

He brings a hockey toughness to his team when it comes to their mental approach. He wants them to fight till the very end. 

“The mentality of taking the gloves off and settling this on the ice-type attitude,” he said. That is something he expects from himself and his players every day.     

In addition to earning their own championship trophy, this year’s team is playing for a seventh-straight NWAC South Region title. 

Their quest starts Feb. 17-18 on the road playing two doubleheaders against Columbia Basin in Pasco, Washington. They then play a doubleheader at Clark in Vancouver, Washington. 

Their first home game is Feb. 25, part of a doubleheader against Clark. First pitch is at 11 a.m. at Dick McLain Field on the Albany campus.