Dodge City Community College Men's Baseball

3rd Year as Head Baseball Coach   Hometown: Buna, Texas College(s): Lamar University/East Central University   JM Kelly enters his third season as Head Coach of the Dodge City CC baseball program taking over for the Conquistadors in July 2024. In his first season (2025) at Dodge City the Conquistadors posted a 32-25 record and finished 15-17 in the KJCCC to finish sixth in the KJCCC West. The Conqs finished Top 25 in several offensive statistical categories for the 2025 season including ranking third in the NJCAA in batting average (.361) and led the KJCCC. Year two (2026) saw the Conqs finish sixth in the KJCCC West for the second straight year as the team went 24-31 and 13-19 in conference play.  Eleven Conqs have earned KJCCC All-Conference honors under the tenure of Coach Kelly with four first-team honorees and seven honorable mention honorees.    Kelly came to Dodge City after serving as Head Coach at East Central College an NJCAA school in Union, Missouri. He led the Falcons to the Region 16 NJCAA Division II title as the team finished 37-21 (school record for wins) as the team went to the Super Regional (District Touranament) and Kelly earned Region 16 Coach of the Year. He also earned Coach of the Year in the Missouri Community College Athletic Conference with four of his players earning all-conference honors during the 2024, and eight players earned all-region. In his first season at ECC, he guided the Falcons to a 20-22 record and the team had the Region 16 Player of the Year, Shane Kearbey with nine all-region players overall and one MCCAC all-conference honoree.    Before taking over at ECC, Coach Kelly was an assistant coach at Texas A&M-Kingsville (NCAA DII) who competed in the Lone Star Conference. During the 2022 season, he helped the Javelinas to a Top 25 ranking to finish the season and a regional runner-up; the season would also see the program have a third-team All-American and Lone Star Conference Newcomer of the Year.    He spent the 2021 season as the catching coach and assistant hitting coach at NCAA DI, Charleston Southern University. The Buccaneer catchers threw out runners 10% more often than the previous season as well as averaging fewer passed balls per nine innings. The Charleston Southern hitters finished in the Top 3 in the Conference in almost every major offensive category. While in Charleston he also worked with the Tampa Bay Rays Low-A affiliate, Charleston River Dogs. This was his second experience working around professional baseball as he also spent two years as an associate scout with the Houston Astros.   Kelly spent a year and a half as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for his junior college alma mater, Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa. In his only full season assisting with the NOC hitters, they ranked in the top 10 nationally in almost every offensive category. The catchers also saw success throwing out over 35% of would-be base stealers. In his time at Tonkawa, he saw 10 players move on to the DI level and eight more move on to the DII level. He also coached five All-Americans in his time with the Mavericks.   He spent his first season at the collegiate level as the Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Carl Albert State College. Kelly coached a pair of Gold Glove Honorees and one All-Conference performer at CASC while seeing multiple players go on to DI and DII levels.    Before stepping into the collegiate ranks, he spent a year at Tomball High School, a 6A program in the state of Texas with a very rich tradition of success. Kelly coached nine players who went on to play at the DI level while 11 others went on the play across various levels of college baseball. During this time in Tomball, he also served as an associate scout for Toby Bicknell and the Prep Baseball Report team in Texas.   Kelly has spent six summers coaching at the Collegiate Summer League level. The 2024 and 2023 seasons saw him serve as the Head Coach for the Thunder Bay Border Cats in the Northwoods League. The 2024 was one of the best in years for the Thunder Bay Border Cats finishing with 35 wins and a winning season for the first time since 2008. The team was Superior Cup Champions and had a mid-season draft pick during the 2024 season. In the team’s first season back in the NWL he led them to 27 wins in 2023. In 2022 he was the Head Coach for the North Platte Plainsmen of the Independence League and in their inaugural year would post a 32-21 record one of the best records in the league. He spent the summer of 2021 as the Pitching Coach for the Brazos Valley Bombers of the Texas Collegiate League where he helped guide a pitching staff that finished at the top of the league in ERA while one of his pitchers was the League’s Pitcher of the Year. He spent the summer of 2020 as the Hastings Sodbusters (Expedition League) skipper and oversaw a team that finished second in the Expedition League at 29-21. That season was the first, and only, in Sodbusters history in which they finished with a winning record. His first year as a manager was spent with the El Dorado Broncos (Sunflower League). In his lone season with the club, he helped guide them to a 22-13 record narrowly missing out on the NBC World Series.   Kelly played college baseball starting his career at the junior college level competing at Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa for his freshman season. He would transfer to Lamar University where he would be part of the Top 25 ranked team in 2016 before transitioning into a student manager role while finishing out his bachelor’s degree.    He earned his bachelor’s degree from Lamar and his master’s degree in sports administration from East Central University (Ada, OK). Kelly is married to his wife Emily Kelly (Neuman) and they have a son, Bowen. 

3rd Year as Assistant Baseball Coach   Hometown: Durham, California College(s): West Valley CC/University of Texas-Pan American (now UTRGV)   Nolan Atkins enters his third season as assistant baseball coach at Dodge City overseeing the pitching staff. He came to Dodge City after serving as an assistant coach for six seasons at Feather River College at the two-year level in California.  In the first season (2025) at Dodge City the Conquistadors posted a 32-25 record and finished 15-17 in the KJCCC to finish sixth in the KJCCC West. Year two (2026) with the Conqs saw the team post a 24-31 record and finish 13-19 in the KJCCC to finish sixth in the KJCCC West. Over this two seasons he has had two pitchers earn KJCCC All-Conference honors in Will David (2025) and Cameron Stewart (2026) who each earned honorable mention honors.    During his tenure at Feather River, he oversaw the pitching staff among other things. In the 2024 season the pitching staff boasted a 3.45 ERA and 420 strikeouts both ranking third in California, while the team was 35-10 and 21-4 in conference play. He coached the Conference Pitcher of the Year. The 2023 season saw the program go 25-15 with a 17-5 record in the conference as the pitching staff had a 4.03 ERA with 9.25 strikeouts per nine innings and allowed the second-fewest hits in the state (313). The 2022 season saw Feather River go 36-11 and 23-2 in conference play and make the NorCal Final Four.    During his six years at Feather River, he helped send several players to NCAA Division I programs such as Nevada, New Mexico State, Seattle U, Oregon State, Ball State, UC San Diego, Cal Poly, Gardener Webb, San Jose State, UNLV, among other schools. He coached a pair of players at Feather River that went on to be drafted in the MLB draft – Jake Christianson (drafted 15th round by Tampa Bay Rays) and Bridger Holmes (drafted in 7th round by LA Angels).    He's also coached several seasons in summer ball including the 2024 year with the Wausau Woodchucks in the Northwoods League helping them to a 50-19 record and first-half champs. The Woodchucks were second in the league in strikeouts with 633 and third in ERA (4.23). He also spent time with the Thunder Bay Border Cats and Waterloo Bucks.    Atkins played college baseball starting out at the two-year level competing for West Valley College in California for two seasons (2010 and 2011). He went on to transfer to NCAA DI school, University of Texas Pan American spending three seasons there competing in 2012 and 2014.    He graduated with his bachelor’s degree in general studies from UTPA (now University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley).  

2nd Year as Assistant Baseball Coach (Volunteer)   Hometown: Stagecoach, Texas College(s): Texas Lutheran University    Trevor Cones enters his second season as an assistant coach at Dodge City for the baseball program. He comes to Dodge City after playing college baseball at Texas Lutheran University.  He helped coach the Conquistadors to a 24-31 overall record during the 2026 season as the team finished sixth in the KJCCC.    Cones spent five seasons as part of the baseball program at Texas Lutheran University. The Stagecoach, TX native graduated from Tomball High School in 2020 and while playing for the Cougars, was coached by current Conquistador Head Coach, JM Kelly. He was part of four district championship teams at Tomball High School.   He roamed the outfield for Texas Lutheran and will bring that experience with him to Dodge City where he will assist in the day-to-day operations of the program as well as coaching the outfielders and assisting with the hitters both on the field and in the weight room.   Cones earned his bachelor’s degree from Texas Lutheran University.   

2nd Year as Assistant Baseball Coach (Volunteer) Hometown: Hillsboro, Texas College(s): Oklahoma State University  Caeden Trenkle enters his second season as an assistant coach at Dodge City for the baseball program. He comes to Dodge City after playing college baseball at Oklahoma State University and playing minor league baseball from 2022-2025.   He helped coach the Conquistadors to a 24-31 overall record during the 2026 season as the team finished sixth in the KJCCC.  The Hillsboro, TX native graduated from Hillsboro High School in 2019 and was drafted in the 28th round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Chicago White Sox, but chose to attend Oklahoma State University. In three seasons at Oklahoma State, he would play in the outfield and anchor the top of the order. While donning the Orange and Black, Trenkle hit .292 with 14 home runs, 133 hits, 112 runs scored, and 91 RBI in 131 games with 119 starts. He was a freshman All-American, an All-Big 12 honoree, and a 2022 Stillwater Regional All-Tournament team honoree. In 2022, he played summer ball with the West Virginia Black Bears of the MLB Draft League and was drafted in the 2022 MLB draft by the Oakland Athletics in the ninth round with the 274th pick. He would go on to play in the minor leagues from 2022 to 2025, playing for the likes of the Lansing Lugnuts, Midland Rockhounds, and others. He would play in 245 minor league games, recording 194 hits, 133 runs scored, 14 home runs, 27 doubles, 95 RBI, and a .236 batting average.  Trenkle is no stranger to the JUCO world as his father is a JUCO basketball coach, and his uncle, Brady Trenkle, spent time as a head coach and assistant coach for Dodge City for the Conquistadors men’s basketball team (2008-12 – Brady Trenkle head coach for Conqs).  He will work with the hitters as well as assist in recruiting efforts for the Conquistadors.