Scheduled Speakers

Jim Lefebvre

Hitting Instructor

The MBCA is proud to announce that Jim Lefebvre will be speaking to our association about hitting, through three clinic sessions. He will provide insights, teaching tips, and hitting techniques that will help all coaches with hitters of all levels. Jim Lefebvre, a former manager for the Mariners, the Cubs and the Brewers, was a National League Rookie of the Year and a standout infielder during his big league career. He gained fame and exposure to Asian culture during his playing days in Japan. That made it an easy decision to accept the job as manager of China’s national team in mid-2003. A position he held through the 2008 Olympic games where he managed to get China to qualify. A well-known teacher of hitting, who has served as a coach for four teams, Lefebvre’s book The Making Of a Hitter, stresses rotational hitting.

Bernie Walter

Arundel HS, Maryland

MBCA is thrilled to have Bernie Walter come share his wisdom with us. He is one of the nation’s best high school coaches of all time and will be speaking at two sessions — pickoffs and “no throwing” pitching program.
Bernie Walter has been the head coach at Arundel High School in Gambrills, Maryland, since 1974. With Coach Walter at the helm, Arundel won 17 Anne Arundel County, 15 regional (including a record 5 straight) and a record-setting Ten Maryland State Baseball Championship. In 1993, Collegiate Baseball named Arundel the mythical High School National Champions. As a high school and summer baseball coach, Walter has won more than 2300 games, including over 650 in high school. Bernie is a charter member of the National High School Baseball Coaches Association, named National Baseball Coach of the Year by the BCA (1993), committee member and frequent clinician at the national convention. Walter has been selected The National Coach of the Year by the National Federation (1996), and the ABCA (1998 and 2006). He’s the only baseball coach to have been recognized by Disney’s American Teacher Awards for Athletics. Walter was the head coach for the gold medal USA Baseball Junior National Team in 1988 and the bronze medal winner in 1990. He is one of only seven U.S. coaches to ever win a World Championship and also co-authored the USA Baseball’s Coaches Education Program.

Todd Fitz-Gerald

Douglas HS, Florida

The MBCA is pleased to have one of the more exciting young high school coaches in America speak the association about pitching and baserunning.  His teams are consitently ranked in the top 25 nationally, culminating with a #1 ranking from USA Today in 2008.  The former American Heritage baseball coach was recently announced as the new head coach at nearby Douglas High in Douglas, Florida.  Fitz-Gerald left behind a Patriots program that he helped build into a national contender over his 16 seasons at the helm, with which he won a state title for in 2008. One of his players from that championship team was Eric Hosmer, who became the highest-drafted player in Broward County history after he was selected third overall in the 2008 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft.

John Casey

Tufts University

Under Coach John Casey, the Tufts University Baseball program is one of the most competitive in New England each spring. In the past two seasons, the Jumbos have won back-to-back New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) titles and earned #1 seeds at the 2010 and 2011 NCAA New England Regional Tournaments.
A 1980 Tufts graduate, Casey recently completed his 28th season as the coach at his alma mater. He has amassed a 530-333-4 record, a victory total that places him among the top 50 on the NCAA Division III active coaches list. When the 2010 team earned the 500th win of his career in the same game that clinched the conference title, Casey became the 53rd coach in NCAA Division III baseball history to reach the 500 wins milestone. He is the all-time leader in Tufts coaching victories, and is second all-time among NESCAC coaches. He was the seventh New England Division III coach to accomplish the 500-wins milestone.
A longtime supporter and member of the MBCA, Coach Casey will be speaking about Pre-Season Defensive Progressions.

Jim Martin

Merrimack College

Jim Martin will be speaking to the MBCA about practice planning. His effective and productive use of every minute of practice will help coaches prepare their teams better which will lead to more success.
Jim Martin recently completed his first season as head coach of the Merrimack baseball team after taking over the reins in October 2010. In Martin’s first season at the helm, the Warriors posted a 14-28 overall record while going 6-20 in the Northeast-10 Conference. A Norwood, Mass. native, Martin came to Merrimack from Southern Connecticut State University, where he was entering his fifth season as the assistant baseball coach. In Martin’s second season at Southern Connecticut in 2008, the Owls posted a 36-19 record, 24-6 in conference, improving by 11 games from 2007 and finishing second in the conference. The team’s grade-point-average has risen to the highest level in recent history, while two Owls were selected in the 2008 MLB Amateur Draft for the first time in school history. Martin also served as an assistant coach for Saint Anselm in 2005-06 before accepting a similar position with Southern Connecticut.

Ken Howe

Keene State

The MBCA is excited to have another local coach contribute to our lineup of speakers as Ken Howe will share his baseball wisdom with the association.
Since joining Division III and the Little East Conference in 1998, Ken Howe has led Keene State to four 20-plus-win seasons and three consecutive 30 victory campaigns, including a school record 34 victories in 2008 on the way to capturing its first LEC championship and earning its second straight NCAA tournament berth.
2009 saw the Owls finish near the top of Division III in most offensive categories including #1 in the country in slugging percentage (.588). The Owls also finished second in batting average (.370), 14th in both hits (560) and runs (434) and 17th in homers (51). KSC finished the season 25-16 and made it to the LEC Championship game after bouncing host Southern Maine from the tournament.
Under his direction, the Owls reached the Conference’s postseason tournament on nine occasions, including four trips to the championship game, culminating with last year’s crown. Howe, who was selected as the LEC’s coach of the year in 2008, believes the Owls will be in the hunt for the conference crown once again this spring.

Pete Moscariello

Personal Best

MBCA’s own Pete Moscariello and Scott Farris will share their expertise in mental toughness training. Pete and Scott have run clinics and seminars for parents and student-athletes for years through a company they founded, Personal Best. Pete Moscariello has been the Head Baseball Coach at Reading Memorial High School for 32 years, has over over 500 career wins, 12 league championships, is a two-time Boston Globe & 8-time Middlesex League Coach of the Year, and has a state championship under his belt. Pete is the owner and director of the Reading Baseball School since 1984 and has been inducted in to the Massachusetts Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Reading Memorial High School Athletics Hall of Fame. Coach Moscariello was also the recipient of the MIAA and Sportsmanship Alliance of Massachusetts Award in 2003 and 2009.