Southwest Baptist University Athletics

Chris Martin enters into his 6th season as head baseball coach at Southwest Baptist University. Coach Martin has led the Bearcats to 113 wins in his first five years, setting a school record for most wins in a five year span. The run of five straight 20 win seasons marks the first time the program has accomplished that feat in school history and makes the Bearcats one of only six MIAA schools to win 20 or more games in each of the last five years. Martin’s career record sits at 113-134-1 overall and 87-104 in the MIAA. Martin has had twenty-two players earn All-Conference honors, five players earn All-Region honors and three players earn Academic All-American honors. Martin’s teams have set ten individual career records at SBU, twelve individual single season records, thirteen team single season records and five individual single game records.

Coach Martin led the 2016 Bearcats to a 22-28 record and 17-22 finish in the MIAA. The Bearcats posted a 14-9 record at Dodson Field and continued to produce one of the top offenses in the MIAA, averaging 7.5 runs per game. Five Bearcats earned All-MIAA recognition including Christian Binger and Caleb Sneed to were named 2^nd team All-MIAA. Sneed and Binger would both go on to receive All-Region honors. Christian Binger became just the second SBU athlete in school history to receive 1^st team Academic All-American Honors for a 2^nd time. He was name the COSIDA Academic All-America of the Year for NCAA D2 Baseball. He was only the second SBU athlete in school history to earn the prestigious award.

The 2015 Bearcats finished with a 21-27 record and a 14-22 finish in the MIAA. The Bearcats season was highlighted by a win over then #11 and MIAA Regular Season and Tournament Champion Missouri Southern State University in a midweek battle late in the season. Four Bearcats earned All-MIAA recognition including Ross Wolfe who was named 1st Team All-MIAA Shortstop. Christian Binger was named a 1st Team Academic All-American. The Bearcats offense continued to be one of the tops in the MIAA producing a .309 batting average while hitting over 40 homeruns.

The 2014 Bearcats set a school record with 29 wins and 24 MIAA wins. The Bearcats first winning season since 1999 produced a #5 seed in the postseason MIAA tournament, a tournament in which the Bearcats would be eliminated in extra innings of the deciding game 3 at Missouri Western. The team set 18 individual or team single season records. Four different Bearcats earned MIAA Player of the Week Awards and nine earned All-MIAA honors. Spencer Blacksher highlighted the list by becoming only the 10th Bearcat in the programs history to earn 1st team honors. Blacksher also became only the sixth Bearcat to receive an All-Region award as he was named to the Daktronics, NCBWA and ABCA All-Region 2nd team making him a Consensus All-Region selection. In doing so he becomes only the second Bearcat to receive multiple All-Region awards. Landon Young was named to the 1st Team Academic All-American team becoming the first Bearcat in the programs history to garner All-American recognition. Martin was voted the MIAA Coach of the Year by his peers following the season.

Coach Martin led the 2013 Bearcats to a 20-29 record. The win total marked the first time the program has had back to back 20 win seasons since 2005-06. The 2012 Bearcats set our tied five different single season or single game SBU records including a MIAA conference victory total of 18. The Bearcats finished two wins shy of the MIAA post-season tournament. Landon Young was named to the All-MIAA Honorable Mention Team and Zack Winchester was named MIAA Athlete of the Week in February. The Bearcats biggest wins included defeating then #5 Central Missouri State University in late March and the programs first victory vs Missouri Southern since 2007.

Coach Martin led the 2012 Bearcats to a 21-28-1 record, tripling their win total from 2011 and posting the highest number of wins in the program since 2005. The Bearcats tied or set 11 different single season or single game SBU records. The season also produced three All-MIAA selections including 1st team catcher Drew Miller. Two Bearcats were also named to All-Region teams. Two different players earned MIAA Player of the Week honors and Drew Miller was named the NCBWA National Hitter of the Week in March. SBU’s season was punctuated with a doubleheader sweep of then #8 ranked Emporia State. 

Martin’s teams have also seen success in the classroom. While consistently posting 3.0 GPA’s in his five years, Martinhas had 95 players land on the MIAA Commissioners Academic Honor Roll. He has had six players named a MIAA Scholar Athlete, seven players awarded the MIAA Academic Excellence Award and three named a 1st Team Academic All-American. In his five seasons all 39 of his seniors have graduated or will graduate this year. Martin’s teams have also participated in a number of community service activities including a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. In 2015, SBU and Pittsburg State teamed up for Go4theGoal, a non-profit group raising money for pediatric cancer. During the Bearcat’s weekend home series, the team’s combined to raise $1,000 for pediatric cancer patients. 

Martin started his coaching career in 2007 as an assistant at SBU. He served in that capacity through 2010. Martinalso played at SBU from 2002-06. He was named the MIAA Commissioners Academic Honor Roll three times and was named the Rex Brown Award recipient within the SBU athletics department following his senior season. 

Martin is originally from Iberia, MO. A 2007 graduate of SBU, Martin also received his Masters in Business Administration degree from SBU in the summer of 2009. The Martin family has a total of six degrees from Southwest Baptist University. Martin also serves as a member of the Athletics Administration team in the role of Assistant Director of Athletics/Operations. He is engaged to be married in July to Michelle Noland. Michelle serves as the Assistant Director of the Mary Jo Wynn Athletic Academic Achievement Center at Missouri State University.